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Experiences and Lessons▶
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
Case Studies▶
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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Challenges and lessons learnt​

  • When balancing stakeholder requests, be sure to prioritise what is needed for census and be realistic about what the available tools allow.

  • There is a need to provide clear guidelines on the definition of villages and EAs during the sensitisation meetings and for the mappers.

  • Illiteracy of village elders made training and signing of documents difficult and time-consuming during sensitisation meetings in Kenya.

  • Fragmented and disputed administrative units make it difficult to determine the village boundaries, therefore this needs to be addressed before the mapping teams get to the respective villages. Otherwise, this can lead to failure in identifying some boundaries and creation of overlapping boundaries which should be explicitly avoided for all the areas across the country.

  • The introduction of new mapping tools midway through the exercise slowed the fieldwork because some mapping assistants could not cope with the changes immediately. This implies that early determination of the end products and testing of all the possible applications is vital.

  • Unclear definition and demarcation of boundaries between urban and rural EAs made it difficult to get accurate data.

  • Lack of prior planning for mapping of mobile populations like nomads and pastoralists, who can be missed or double counted.

  • NSOs did not plan for adequate server space to accommodate the arising huge geospatial data.

  • There was insufficient planning about the required number and quality of editing personnel for map production.

  • The GIS licenses to enable map production were either unavailable, expired and yet too costly.

  • There was a lack of sufficient computer machines with adequate processing capacity.

  • In most cases, the map production process started late causing delays in concluding the mapping phase. 

  • New administrative units may come up after mapping and these interfere with the geo-file, several points of interest were missed out by the mapping assistants therefore not reflecting the actual picture on the ground.

  • Insufficient communication given to the community leaders during sensitisation led to having absent Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs that made verification of their area maps difficult because the team had to make alternative arrangements to use other people or come back later.

  • Allowances for some levels of NGAOs were not factored in the census payment guidelines and rates therefore created a challenge on how to compensate them when they attended the verification meetings. This calls for comprehensive planning and budgeting along the mapping business process.

  • Politics and insecurity can affect map verification: political and partisan interests on the ground tended to interfere with the workflow. Insecurity in some areas led to the team requiring special security arrangements that necessitated rescheduling of the programme.

  • Illiterate administrators in some areas made interpretation of the map and geo-file difficult.