The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics – KNBS has recruited 164, 700 youth who will participate in the oncoming census exercise.
Director General Zachary Mwangi on Monday said out of these, some 2,700 will be ICT supervisors, 27,000 content supervisors and 135,000 enumerators for the population census to be conducted between August 24 and 25.
Mwangi said the exercise set to cost Sh18.5 billion, has been designed to cover a wide data set including demographics, disability, education, labour force, ICT, Agriculture, housing conditions and amenities as well as household assets.
This, he said will be key for planning, policy formulation and decision making.
According to Mwangi, data entry will be done through mobile electronic devices which are currently under programming at Moi University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
“This was informed by the fact that these two universities did participate in the digital literacy programme for the assembly of the tablets for primary schools. This has led to the creation of many jobs for the youth in the assembly and programming of these devices,” Mwangi said.
The census is held every 10 years and 2009 marked the 5th census in post-independence Kenya.
“The census is more than a population count: it provides all levels of government, business, industry, media, academia and independent organisations with social, economic and demographic information that is essential for making decisions regarding the many services each provides to the public,” Mwangi said.
KNBS previously said the 2009 Census employed new technology for better accuracy and faster processing of the data.
