13,000 temporary employment spots to be created by Population and Housing Census
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) will recruit about 13,000 temporary staff ahead of the 2023 Population and Housing Census, an official said Wednesday.
The census in the country has been postponed since 2021 and 2022 due to competing priorities such as the COVID-19 budget prioritization, but this year for the 2023-2024 financial year, an amount of N$706 million was allocated by the government for the NSA to undertake the exercise.
The temporary staff will include team supervisors, enumerators, constituency supervisors, IT technicians, statisticians, data monitors, programmers, HR practitioners, legal experts, communication specialists, procurement officers,s and fleet officers, etc.
“All census positions will be advertised in all media platforms including the NSA website, the Namibia Integrated Employment Information System (NIEIS), and regional and local authority offices. Job applications will be done through an online recruitment system,” said NSA Statistician General Alex Shimuafeni at a media update event.
Shimuafeni said applications can be done via any device that has internet access such as a smartphone,
tablet, or a computer.
“Applications are open to all Namibians and the Agency hopes to give employment opportunities to the unemployed. It is against that background that NSA intends to recruit individuals within their respective constituencies. The nation will be informed when the application process starts,” he added.
Meanwhile, Shimuafeni said the census will, for the first time, be spatially-enabled and digital.
“All census personnel and equipment will be sourced locally, except the 13,000 tablets, which will be borrowed from external entities. In particular, 11,000 tablets will be borrowed from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the other 2,000 tablets will be borrowed from Statistics South Africa in line with South-South cooperation. Transportation of the tablets to and from Namibia will be facilitated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The census logistics involved is massive and will require around 2900 vehicles to ensure enumerators reach every corner,” he added.
The census is conducted every ten years and is essentially a process of collecting, processing, analyzing, publishing, and disseminating demographic, socioeconomic, and spatial data of the population during a specific period.
Although Shimuafeni did not mention a specific date for the census, he said the census’ main enumeration is planned to take place from August to October 2023 across the country.
