15 Jan 2018

Solomons seeking support for 2019 Census

9:44 am on 15 January 2018

The Solomon Islands National Statistics Office is appealing to international donors for funding and technical support for the 2019 census.

View towards Point Cruz and the Port of Honiara.

View towards Point Cruz and the Port of Honiara. Photo: RNZI/Koroi Hawkins

This comes as the office prepares to begin the second phase of a national village resource survey and household listing exercise this month.

The Solomon Star newspaper reports the project's national director, Raphael Aipaina, saying due to significant logistical challenges the last month's first phase only managed to complete surveys for 18 of the 31 wards it aimed to canvas.

Mr Aipaina said his office is hoping to cover the remaining wards in January as well as this month's quota.

There are nine provinces and 183 wards in Solomon Islands.

The surveys aim to provide quality data from the village level to policy and decision makers in Solomon Islands, and will also form the basis for enumeration demarcation areas for next year's census.

Mr Aipaina said support for the census is crucial if it is to provide quality data to help improve the livelihood and standard of living of all Solomon Islanders.

He said the village survey project is being funded by the Solomon Islands government