Chapter 12: Advocacy, Publicity and Resource Mobilization
Statistics Sierra Leone
Several stakeholders were involved to build public trust in every step of the way namely: engaged civil society organisations (CSOs) for mid-term census (National Elections Watch (NEW), Institute for Governance Reforms (IGR), Native Consortium, Accountability Sierra Leone, Heal Sierra Leone, Health for All Coalition etc.; engaged Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Population to help in publicity, Members of Publicity Committee also did media engagements on behalf of NSOs, All Political Parties Association of Sierra Leone (APPA) also joined them in publicity, Nation Wide Stakeholders Engagement via town hall meetings in all districts of Sierra Leone. All Critical Voices (CSOs, press, political parties) etc. were given an opportunity to monitor both the census and cartographic mapping. Those engaged included district council chairperson’s/mayors, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), youth groups, women's groups, paramount chiefs etc.
During preparation of the mid-term census, publicity was stepped up by creating new communication content that required signing of MoUs with media houses that translated into census hour, media engagement on flagship radio/TV programmes, as well as social media hypes and content creation for digital communication such as websites.
New key messages were created to increase awareness about the census, educate the public about the census benefits (to them and the country), remind them about their legal obligation and duty to take part in the census, explained to them WHAT to do, WHEN and HOW communities will be enumerated, including dates, duration, ways of data collection, target population, etc. Special messages were prepared for the resistant communities e.g., ‘’If you don’t allow to be counted, you stand the risk of your communities not being planned for.’’ - this helped a lot to ease the resistance.
Several channels were used such as printed mid-term population and housing census (PHC) Banners and deployed them across Sierra Leone, engaged town criers with handheld megaphones, printed mid-term PHC T-shirts/wristbands/posters, established Census Toll Free Helpline (881) in partnership with Telcos who sent census bulk SMSs to their customers, they brought on board CSOs/brand influencers/ambassadors to support in the engagements.
The key tools used were: media engagement (Stats SL Hour-Radio and TV, simulcast (40 radio stations) country wide, simulcast (4 television stations) country wide, newspaper publications – hypes etc., mid-term census countdown screen tag/pop up on TV stations, press briefings, digital communication (social media & website)); sensitisation (meetings (regional and district), jingles (different languages), TVC and short videos, door to door announcements with megaphones (district and national), public announcement (loud hailer vehicles), census billboards, banners, posters, census theme song (English & Krio)).
Tanzania
The 2022 PHC used intensive and extensive publicity and advocacy programmes to educate, sensitise and mobilise the people to participate in the census process. In Tanzania, most people were sensitised and motivated to participate in census enumeration in such a way they were calling at the office within the enumeration time asking for the enumerator to visit their households.
The census logo and slogan remained the same as those of the 2012 census: “SENSA KWA MAENDELEO: JIANDAE KUHESABIWA” that is “CENSUS FOR DEVELOPMENT: PREPARE TO BE COUNTED”. There were two Census Commissioners - one for Tanzania Mainland, and the other for Tanzania Zanzibar. The main function of the Commissioners was to publicise the implementation of the PHC and advocacy activities. To standardise publicity and advocacy campaigns throughout the country, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) Zanzibar developed publicity guidelines that were used during the census publicity and advocacy operations. The guidelines explained in brief, the meaning and purpose of the census as well as broad topics covered.
One month before the enumeration day, an intensified mass media campaign known as SENSABIKA [Be counted] coordinated by the Ministry of Culture, Arts & Sports was launched. The campaign helped to mobilise the entire country to participate in the census enumeration. Massive SMS campaign (daily messages) reaching about 45 million mobile subscribers daily and other social media campaigns were also intensified in this period.
There was high level of political will as:
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The President of the United Republic of Tanzania Her Excellence Samia Suluhu Hassan declared the census date and launched the census logo in April 2022. The launch was held officially and involved various media. This event motivated all citizens to participate in the 2022 PHC
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After the President declared the census date, the census logo was printed for distribution throughout the country. The logo was printed in newspapers, on stickers, leaflets, wheel covers, flags and envelopes. Stickers with the logo were placed at strategic places, including public service vehicles and public notice boards in order to inform and educate the public about the census process and date.
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On the census night, that is the of night of 22nd/23rd August 2022, the President addressed the nation, her speech was broadcasted in all televisions and various radio stations. SMS from the President urging the public to participate and wishing them a successful enumeration were distributed. There was also a special night program (fireworks) on in six major cities (Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, Dodoma, Mbeya and Tanga) just before enumeration started (12:00 midnight) to attract the public attention. The President of the United Republic of Tanzania and the President of Zanzibar were enumerated early on the first day of the census enumeration period and soon after enumeration they addressed the nation to create awareness and raise publicity.
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The initial census results were launched by the President of the United Republic of Tanzania in public.
In terms of resource mobilisation, the Census Stakeholders Committee, which comprises of development partners and chaired by the Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, was established to undertake resources mobilisation for the census’s activities. The Central Census Committee co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the Second Vice President, Zanzibar provided general guidelines and mobilised the required resources. The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania financed the 2022 PHC by 97% the 3% was from the development partners.
Namibia
Namibia developed a communication plan focusing on advocacy and publicity of the census mapping project at national level. The most convenient method used was the distribution of flyers and distribution and displaying of posters to create awareness. During this project, the RS were able to engage community leaders through meetings and had the opportunity to elaborate on the objectives of the census mapping. Mobilisation was done in each selected EA before commencement of data collection exercises to ensure that local people were aware of the project and what was expected of them.
Courtesy visits to the constituency and local councilors were also undertaken to introduce the Census Mapping Project and its components as well as to request for their assistance in informing their constituency inhabitants about the Census Mapping Project during their respective radio announcements and community meetings. In addition, FM radio announcements complimented by newspaper articles and newspaper advertisements were also placed in local newspapers to inform the public about the Census Mapping Project and its approach. Television strips were run on NBC-TV before the News Bulletin and specific talk shows such as Good Morning Namibia and Business Today to announce the commencement of fieldwork.
Kenya
Kenya developed a publicity and advocacy strategic plan and established a respective sub-committee. A communications firm was engaged to implement the Publicity and Advocacy Strategy and address any other publicity and advocacy issues during the 2019 Kenya PHC. In Kenya, the firm was able to segment various groups and arrange for sensitisation workshops with specific messages developed for them. The target audiences and their intended outcome of interventions were identified as follows:
Target Audience and Intended Outcome of Interventions
| S. No | Target Audience | The intended outcome of interventions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | General public | To create awareness of the importance of Census and the need to give accurate information. |
| 2 | Media | To bring all media on board to assist in disseminating accurate Census messages. |
| 3 | Government officials | To lobby their support in disseminating accurate Census messages. |
| 4 | Community leaders | To sensitise them on the importance of Census and their role in sensitising the public. |
| 5 | Civil Society and other pressure groups | To sensitise them on the Census and request for their support in disseminating accurate Census information. |
| 6 | Religious leaders | To sensitise them on the importance of Census and the need for their support in sensitising their congregations. |
| 7 | Parliamentarians, Governors etc. | To appeal for accurate dissemination of Census messages. |
| 8 | School Children | To educate them on the importance of Census and solicit their support in spreading Census messages. |
| 9 | Individuals with limited media access | To ensure that Census messages reach even those with no media access. |
| 10 | Special groups (e.g., nomads and the homeless) | To ensure that everyone is included in the Census. |
Publicity and advocacy activities that were undertaken included:
• Conducting media briefings/press releases including Editors Guild briefing and launch of census countdown as well as development and production of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Materials (brochures, banners, fliers, posters, t-shirts, reflector jackets). Training of key census personnel on media handling, television advertisements, radio announcements and talk shows. Press tour to the production and assembly line and documentation of the production and assembly of the mobile tablets used in the census and this was aired in the respective media stations.
• Partnering with the Ministry of Education and sponsored census theme songs and poems for the 93rd Edition of Kenya Music Festival; the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) choir composed, produced, and recorded audio and video songs which focused on the census theme.
• A firm was contracted to undertake publicity through roadshows using vernacular/local languages in every county.
• A call centre was set up and bulk SMS platform was used to inform the public of the enumeration period and a call centre was established at the KNBS head office where all communications and complaints, questions and concerns were received through a toll-free number provided to the public.
• Different social media channels were used including Facebook (Kenya Stats) and Twitter (KNBStats). An integrated social media management software was procured and integrated all the social media networks into one portal for ease of maintenance and monitoring. A census 2019 hashtag “KenyaCensus2019”, was created to share all census related information.
• A web portal was also procured and developed by the publicity firm. A generic email signature, with the census theme and slogan, was developed and used in all KNBS emails.