Dar Es Salaam — NATIONAL celebrations to mark this year's World Population Day started on July 22 with various activities that were inaugurated by North Pemba Regional Commissioner, Mr Dadi Faki Dadi. The National celebrations were held on July 24 in which the Zanzibar President, Dr Amani Abeid Karume was the Chief Guest.

Dr Karume, whose speech was read on his behalf by the Zanzibar Minister for Labour, Youth Development, Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Asha Abdallah Juma, underscored the need for the use of statistics in the planning of development programmes. Global celebrations on World Population Day were held on July 11, 2010, under the theme; "Everyone counts." Tanzania chose to focus on development planning, thus, modified this year's theme to; "Everyone counts in Development Planning".

The theme allows Tanzania to reflect on the critical importance of evidence backed decision-making; the importance of using timely, reliable, correct, credible, disaggregated, culturally appropriate and internationally comparable data to develop relevant and effective policies, plans, programmes and budgets, said Mr Dadi in his address to inaugurate the celebrations at Konde Secondary School grounds at Micheweni District in North Pemba.

Jointly organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Planning Commission, the national celebrations were held in Micheweni because of its unique characteristics the region portrays in the status of the national economy.

Reports from the Planning Commission in Zanzibar indicate that North Pemba is one of the poorest areas in the Island, with the highest fertility rate of 5.3 per cent based on 2002 population census. Poverty levels are also highest in the twin islands of Unguja and Pemba with most of families surviving on one meal a day.

Illiteracy level in the area stands at over 50 per cent. In 1989 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed July 11 to mark Population Day - a day when the world is encouraged to reflect on population issues and its link to economic growth,human rights and reducing poverty.

Dr Julitta Obananjo, UNFPA Resident Representative, says this year's global theme emphasizes that to achieve people-centered development in any country every individual - whether woman or man, girl or boy, young or old, must be taken into account. Each and everyone can and must make a difference.

She says: "Using sound statistics and data ensures that the needs and circumstances of people are well placed and that investments and resources are truly directed at improving their lives, particularly the most marginalised, deprived and poverty stricken."

Proper data will help in making proper decisions on issues such as infrastructure development, urban and rural planning. To achieve this, the government needs to know the profile or characteristics of its population - who they are, how many are they, where they live, what they are doing, are they working or out of a job, are they healthy or sick, are they pregnant or infertile? If people and their characteristic are not known, the government cannot plan.

"It is that simple. What is not measured cannot be managed.We have an opportunityto make a meaningful difference if we invest in good data for effective and sustainable development," she says.Data will play a prominent role in monitoring and comparing progress, assessing and realigning plans and conducting effective advocacy. It will contribute to transparency and accountability.

This year has also seen the launching of phase II of the economic growth and poverty reduction strategies -MKUKUTA II (for Tanzania Mainland) and MKUZA II (for Zanzibar). The need for quality data to monitor implementation is going to be critical, as it has already been for developing the plans.

It is for this reason that the governments, through the National Bureau of Statistics and the Office of the Zanzibar Chief Government Statistician

have been mandated to conduct country-wide population related surveys; including the upcoming 2012 National Population and Housing Census.

UNFPA in collaboration with other development partners, have committed to support the country to enable it conduct the next census planned for August 2012. Already it is expected that Tanzania's population will reach 45.8 million people during conclusion of the exercise.

Censuses are held after every 10 years and the last such exercise was conducted in 2002 in which Tanzania recorded 34.1 million people. Since 2002 several development issues have taken place in the country, including population growth that demands new population data in order to be able to plan for development programmes based on actual number of people in

the country.

Mr Amour Hamil Bakar, head of economics statistics in the Zanzibar government Chief Statistician's office said Tanzania, needs to have reliable data on the population status so that it can plan for its development activities and help prepare national budgets. Mr Bakar said the 2002 census for example, helped the two governments to prepare and implement MKUKUTA and MKUZA.

The 2002 census had also provided information on strategies to apply to reach the National Vision 2025 (for Tanzania Mainland) and 2020 (for Zanzibar) as well as strategies for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

He said the two governments had already done the groundwork for the 2012 population census which include preparation of aerial maps in which seven regions on Tanzania mainland (Coast, Morogoro, Dodoma, Manyara, Arusha and Tanga) and two in Zanzibar (Unguja North and South).

He further said that several steps were needed to be completed before the census exercise begins. These include preparation of work plan and budget, administrative mechanism and mapping. Markings for aerial maps are expected to be completed by December 31, next year (2011).

About 30 experts are supposed to start marking the maps by this September. According to Mr Bakar so far there are only 11 experts available for the job and are capable to perform up to 36 per cent of the job expected to be done.

He mentioned lack of financial resources, limited knowledge on application of census for economic development and lack of awareness on the importance of statistics in development planning as major challenges facing the population census exercise.

"Censuses are huge and serious undertakings and therefore need the highest political support, financial commitment and human resources for timely implementation," the UNFPA Resident Representative noted, and called for highest political commitment to ensure its success. Everyone has the right to be counted during the census. UNFPA message is simple: "For you to make a difference and be considered, you must be counted. To be counted is to become visible.

"We cannot talk of people-centered development if still a significant number of Tanzanians live in extreme poverty and go hungry; if there are still significant pockets of uneducated and unemployed people; if households still do not have access to clean and safe potable water; if women and girls are still being abused, alienated and discriminated against and if our mothers are still having babies far too young, too frequently and dying in pregnancy and childbirth from causes that are preventable," she said in reference to the situation at Micheweni District.

Tanzania must give the MDGs, the MKUKUTA and MKUZA II new impetus. Surely Tanzania cannot afford to decelerate during these coming five years. Failure to attain these goals by 2015 would be tantamount to allowing the persistence of inequality, injustices and underdevelopment, the UNFPA representative said.