Sharing the Results of the 2010 Population and Housing Census in Indonesia with the United Nations Country Team

JAKARTA: Support to the availability and use of population data in development is an important work of many UN agencies, and certainly a core mandate of UNFPA. As part of its collaboration with BPS Statistics Indonesia to support the 2010 Population and Housing Census, UNFPA, together with the United Nations Resident Coordinator, facilitated a meeting between BPS and the United Nations Country Team and other development partners on Friday, 17 February 2012. The meeting was in the form of presentations from BPS about the process and results of the 2010 Population Census and on interpreting some of the demographic parameters coming out of the census.

The UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. El- Mostafa Benlamlih, who opened the session, said that the right policies and programmes to promote equity cannot be planned without knowing first where the equity gaps are. “Therefore, getting the data and analyzing it is instrumental to not only developing appropriate interventions, but to also measure if we are on track to achieving them. Evidence based policy making, which is key to promoting equity, depends entirely on obtaining and analyzing the right data.”

Mr. Benlamlih said further that for the UN, it is also very timely that the census data has already been made available, when the UN has embarked on a joint Monitoring and Evaluation of the UNPDF. With the latest data, the UN will have a clearer guide on the current status of our progress towards UNPDF outcomes and achievements, which will be reflected in the annual reporting mechanism.

Meanwhile, Dr. Suryamin, the acting Chief Statistician of BPS Statistics, reminded the audience that as part of

the improvement that BPS has made in the current census, the data from the census is now available for the public online. “Our data is available now for public utilization and can be downloaded from http://sp2010.bps.go.id/. The data that we present there is only up to the district level, but anyone could contact us should they need a more complete data or data in the sub districts and villages,” he encouraged the audience.

Mr. Jose Ferraris, UNFPA Representative, underlined that the 2010 Census is a much better process compared to the previous ones to ensure high quality of the data. “UNFPA support to BPS on the provision of technical assistance and capacity development were given from pre to post census which has made the quality of the result as one of the best ever conducted by BPS over the past decades” said Mr. Ferraris.

He added that prior to the 2010 Census, UNFPA supported BPS to conduct the campaign “Pastikan Anda Dihitung” (in English, “Make Sure You Are Counted”), while in the post census period, the Post Enumeration Survey and Census Analysis was thoroughly supported by bringing noted experts such as Prof. Terrence Hull of the Australian National University. Mr. Ferraris gave an example to the audience that for the first time, the questions on pregnancy-related deaths for the estimation of the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) both at the national and sub national level were covered in the Census. “The sub-national estimates are the first attempt in Indonesia and are very relevant to the work of the UN agencies in the country in the tracking of MDG 5,” he explained to the audience.

Prof. Terrence Hull urged that anyone, particularly development agencies, make the most of the data available. He said that we have very good data from the results; however one should have a good understanding on how to interpret it properly and use it accordingly.

”It is essential that all programme staff have a basic understanding of the data and its interpretation,” he emphasized, adding that users should remember that data will not answer all programme questions as they will help to focus our attention and understand our problems.

At the end of the session, many of the development partners followed up with BPS and Prof. Hull on how to work further in utilizing the Census data for their respective programmes.

For further information, please contact:
Agustina Wayansari
Communication Officer
Email : wayansari@unfpa.org

Tags: Population