Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle.
CENSUS Day is August 1 2021.
So says Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment Marsha Caddle as she led off the debate on a supplementary in the Lower Chamber yesterday.
Noting that the National Population and Housing Census is usually carried out every ten years, the last census was carried out in 2010 but had to be pushed back to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She explained that a census is critical since it gives the information needed in order to develop policy on behalf of the people of Barbados.
“A population of Housing Census tells us what are people’s living conditions, how people experience any range of deprivations as they go through life. It tells us the number of people who are living with disabilities, what disabilities they’re living with, it gives us a range of information and shares across those 43 questions of that instrument.”
She used the opportunity to highlight the work being carried out by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology along with the Electoral and Boundaries Commission, to register the population of Barbados and to have a national digital identity for each Barbadian and person who lives in the country.
Minister Caddle also highlighted the importance of Operation Seek and Save as it seeks to interact with people and communities.
“But, Madam Chair... it calls for preparation, we have had to combine the talent and the energy of the University of the West Indies with some of our own technicians.
“Cabinet recently agreed that we would establish August 1, 2021 Census Day in Barbados. Now, I want to say quickly before people start to get a bit alarmed about all of these surveys and all of this interaction, all this information, that we consider this a part of one process.
“And I explained, we have a national registration process that is starting shortly, subject to us being able to respond appropriately to the spike and COVID cases that we’re seeing. We have the Seek and Save survey, which is also a household survey; the census in Barbados in 2021 will be a continuation of that exercise.”
She noted that it is necessary to ensure that there are not high levels of contact during this time to keep students, health officials and members of the community safe.
“We are working feverishly to be able to establish for the first time a partially online census instrument.
“Not notwithstanding that, we do want to make sure that we are not continuously revisiting people if you don’t have to. And so we are getting some help from our development partners to develop an online instrument for the census. That’s not to say we will be able to do everything online, but it’s going to minimise the level of contact you’re going to have in the third and fourth quarter of this year, as we do the very important census.
“I want to appeal to Barbadians to participate in the survey that we are undertaking, because we are going to be using the established protocols. And really, it is important for us to make sure that Barbadians are safe,” she reiterated.
(JH)