Engendering Data Collection Systems in the region
By engendering the censuses of various countries, UNIFEM aims at giving visibility to women’s work to ultimately facilitate the formulation of gender-sensitive policies and programs and to have them reflected in national accounting systems. Working with governments, census organizations and other agencies of the United Nations, UNIFEM works to improve women’s visibility in statistics.
Gender
Sensitizing the 2001 Census in Nepal and India
In partnership with the governments
of the region, national statistical organizations, UN agencies and NGOs,
UNIFEM assisted gender responsiveness in national census exercises in
India and Nepal in 2001. Its support extended to media advocacy, training,
sensitization of functionaries and revision of questionnaires.
In collaboration with the Registrar General of India, the Department of Women and Child Development and the UN Inter-agency Working Group on Data Collection, of which UNIFEM is a member, UNIFEM worked to engender the 2001 Census exercise of India. It was part of a Task Force set up by DWCD, and per advice, members of the Task Force and UNIFEM had interactions with the RGI. The areas of priority were identified, as well as strategies, media products and equipment support. Action research was carried out to identify appropriate communication styles at the level of enumerator to elicit gender sensitive responses from the community – particularly on women’s work. Audio-visual materials like television spots, radio jingles and posters, based on the results of the action research were prepared and used to sensitize Census officials including Trainers, enumerators and respondents. Media advocacy was undertaken and publicity to sensitize the general public, especially respondents. UNIFEM supported the training of 250 ex- Census officials as master trainers, who were deployed as Census Gender Advisors, training 2 million enumerators and giving on-site guidance advice to them throughout the Census Exercise. They also undertook field visits to ascertain the effectiveness of the training and the mode of data collection.
UNIFEM supported the creation of gender sensitive audio/visual products to facilitate the training and sensitization of trainers and enumerators and for the countrywide media campaign. These included two TV spots, one in Hindi and one in Punjabi, their lyrics being adapted as radio jingles for broadcasting through the All India Radio. 15,000 copies of a poster on women’s work and contribution to national economy were produced and 4 LCDs supplied to enhance training programmes. The questionnaire was revised to include gender sensitive questions to elicit relevant Female Workforce Participation Rate, in the existing Household Schedule. The Training Manual was revised to include methods to elicit responses that captured women’s unpaid work in economically productive activities.
In an effort to make the Nepal census more gender responsive the UN Inter-agency group on gender and development (UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNIFEM) worked with the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. The initiative sought to make the 2001 Nepal National Census exercises gender sensitive and user-friendly, through training and sensitization of personnel of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Supporting the revision of training manual for enumerators and questionnaire, media workshops and media advocacy and campaign. These have been undertaken in three phases: (I) Pre-enumeration; (ii) Enumeration and (iii) Post-enumeration. Post-enumeration, the data collected is being analyzed from a gender perspective to compile gender-focused data and to identify gaps, if any.