A special new digital tool developed by the UN will provide real-time information for census managers in charge of the all-important switch from paper to computerized censuses.
The census monitoring dashboard is a pan-African initiative by the Africa Centre for Statistics (ACS) at the UN Economic Commission for Africa with partner countries in Africa.
The census monitoring dashboard is a tool which summarizes census data to provide actionable indicators to census managers in a near real-time fashion. It is a platform designed to provide deeper insights regarding the census operation so that census officials monitor the performance of the census field operations and take corrective actions on time in the event of low achievements. This platform utilizes dynamically updated census data to generate indicators on the performance of the census operation and quality of data.
The dashboard features out-of-the-box indicators such as case statistics, number of households, total population, average interview time, to name but a few as well as demographic indicators including but not limited to crude birth and death rates, maternal mortality rate, fertility ratio, and population figures. Ease of customization to respond to country specific requirements is also a major attribute that the design of this platform gave due emphasis.
The dashboard presents these indicators using intuitive components as charts, infographics, maps, and tables. These components are designed to convey summarized information at different levels of geographic area. Users have options to view indicators at national level or drill down the geographic area to zoom in and narrow geographic coverage for a more focused information. For selected indicators, the dashboard captures target values to compare with the actual census performance and present the results by applying RAG (Red, Amber, Green) or other coloring schemes. The dashboard is also equipped with a multi-language feature, currently working in English and French, with the language framework already implemented to include local languages if the requirements arise.
A role-based access scheme is implemented in the dashboard which allows system administrators to define roles with privileges and assign to system users. Different user groups can be given access to only those indicators of interest instead of overloading users with all the available indicators. Users can also be restricted to view information filtered to selected geographic areas as per the countries’ specific requirement.
The census monitoring dashboard attracts quite an overwhelming interest from member states and those who deployed and used in their census provided us positive feedbacks. The dashboard has been deployed in Ghana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Siera Leone, Seychelles and Liberia. Zambia, Mauritius, and Togo are currently working with the ACS team to deploy the dashboard in their upcoming censuses.
For more information including how to make use of the dashboard for your upcoming censuses, email mailto:ecastats@un.org