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1. Project Planning and Management2. Geospatial Mapping and EA Database3. Enumeration Instruments and Tools4. Data Capture and Management5. Census Testing and Pilots6. Recruitment and Training7. Deployment and Supervision8. Enumeration and Logistics9. Quality Assurance and Risk Management10. Census Analysis and Products11. Partnerships and Collaboration12. Advocacy and Publicity13. Procurement and Financial Management14. Post-Enumeration Survey15. Alternative Approaches16. Planning Checklist
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1. Project Planning and Management2. Geospatial Mapping3. Enumeration Instruments4. Data Capture5. Census Testing6. Recruitment and Training7. Deployment and Supervision8. Enumeration and Logistics9. Quality Assurance10. Census Analysis11. Partnerships12. Advocacy13. Procurement14. Post-Enumeration Survey15. Alternative Approaches16. Planning Checklist
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Background​

Population and housing censuses (PHCs) provide countries with fundamental demographic and socio-economic information. This information is key for planning, programming, and monitoring international, regional, and national commitments like the Global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Africa Agenda 2063, and various national development framework targets.

Population and housing censuses provide a wide range of demographic indicators that allow for disaggregation by small geographic areas and small population groups. At small geographic areas or sub-populations, the population census may be the only source of information for certain social, demographic, and economic characteristics. Population and housing censuses are one of the most complex and costly statistical operations due to the involvement of a huge number of field workers, requiring a long time for preparation and post-enumeration activities.

In the 2020 round of PHCs, all African countries committed to conduct a ‘digital’ population and housing census. This was in line with the recommendations of the 7th Statistical Commission for a transition from manual to digital systems and the use of improved methods and new technologies in implementation of a PHC in Africa. In fact, against a backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest and reduced budgets, only 39 of the 54 African member states carried out a census in the 2020 round.

With further strain on budgets in the 2030 round, the increased use of technology aimed at improving quality while reducing costs is even more important. There have been continuous efforts to use alternative approaches and technologies to improve on data quality, timeliness and dissemination of census results while considering the ever-increasing costs of carrying out population censuses. This has resulted in undertaking digital censuses using mobile technology and the internet to capture and transmit data to central servers. Advances in information and communication technology across the globe has changed how routine statistical business processes, such as the creation of Enumeration Areas (EAs), data capture and validation, data processing, and data dissemination, are being carried out.

During implementation of the 2020 round of digital PHCs, various experiences were acquired, and lessons learned that could inform countries planning for a digital PHC and preparing for the 2030 round of PHCs in Africa. Sharing experiences and good practice from the use of technology during the 2020 round of censuses will be crucial in informing the 2030 round of PHCs in Africa. Each country that implemented, or planned to implement a digital census in the previous round, has had a unique experience and learned lessons within the context of Africa that are worth documenting for future planning and implementation of PHCs.

At the 8th session of the Statistical Commission for Africa, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and its partners were encouraged to continue embracing South-South cooperation and other approaches of sharing technical expertise among countries in the implementation of censuses. Member States were called upon to share experiences and key lessons learned from the 2020 round of censuses and work with UNECA and other partners to build a collective knowledge base for all African countries that can be used as a resource during the 2030 round. The commission also called upon UNECA, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other development partners to continue providing support to countries in the implementation of the 2020 round of censuses and in preparation for the 2030 round, as well as, coordinating technical assistance to countries for efficient implementation.

It is against this background that an e-census handbook has been developed to serve as a reference document for African countries in undertaking digital censuses. This e-census handbook complements the suite of UN guidance documents on censuses, but principally the UN Principles and Recommendations (P&R) for Population and Housing Censuses (Revision 4) (UN P&R, Rev 4), the UNSD Guidelines on the use of electronic data collection technologies in population and housing censuses, the UNSD Handbook on Geographic Information Systems and Digital Mapping, and the UNSD Handbook on the Management of Population and Housing Censuses, among others.