A pickup stopped by the team of enumerators and, inside, a gentleman with a hat and looking like a farmer greeted: “Good morning! You are the Census people, aren´t you? Are you investigating the people?” The enumerator readily answered: “Good morning! Yes, sir. Today we are beginning the Census Dress Rehearsal here in Damolândia, walking the streets, knocking at doors.” The gentleman seemed satisfied, took off the hat, wished a good work and moved on. It was like this, with a sincere interest and a lot of curiosity, that the small and quiet Damolândia, far 60 km from Goiânia, hosted the IBGE in the morning of November 4 for the launching of the 2022 Census Dress Rehearsal. Nobody escaped from the traditional “Good morning!”, an education rule even among strangers and, when opening up, the residents were always ready to help: they knew by heart who lived in each house, whether people was inside or outside, where they worked, how many children they had, what is the best time to collect data. With nearly 3 thousand inhabitants, surrounded by beautiful green hills, the city is known in Goiás as the capital of the carreiros, as it maintains an old tradition since the colonial times. Yet, in a cloudy morning, right after an extended holiday, that small town famous by its links with the past became the starting point of a project of future.

The teams that carried out the surroundings survey paused at 11 AM to participate in the official launching of the 2022 Census Dress Rehearsal at the auditorium of the City Council, full of local authorities and covered by press vehicles. Mayor Rogério Labanca, the first lady, Gleice Ferreira, the vice-mayor, Marllon Willker, the representative of the governor and executive-director of the Mauro Borges Institute, Guilherme Resende, the president of the City Council, Osmar José da Silva, the president of the Association of Municipalities of Goiás, Carlos Alberto Andrade, the head of the UE-GO, Edson Roberto Vieira, the operational coordinator of the Census in Goiás, Daniel Ribeiro, participated in the opening session.  

In his opening speech, the head of the UE-GO reinforced the importance of the dress rehearsal to guarantee the efficiency and reliability of the census operation in 2022 and shared his happiness for the good reception that the municipality of Damolândia provided to the teams. The city mayor and the president of the City Council volunteered to contribute with whatever it was necessary for the accomplishment of the dress rehearsal. The representative of the state government reminded how the Census data influence public policies and the governability of municipalities and states, citing as an example the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines. Many cities received funds not according to their population, due to the data gap caused by the delay in the Census.  The president of the Association of Municipalities of Goiás, who is the mayor of Goianira, confirmed the difficulties to govern “without the Census” and stated: “We will strive to host the IBGE in the same way Damolândia is doing today in all the 246 municipalities of Goiás in 2022. In the end of the launching, an official photograph was taken and the teams returned to the field.

 A sub-area census coordinator (CCS), Isabela Gramacho Taveira, was completely dressed for the field work: dark blue vest, security equipment against Covid-19, cap, ponytail, the Mobile Data Collection Device (DMC) in the right hand and a large water bottle with a pink straw in the left hand. In some minutes, she would be taken by the official car to the beginning of her enumeration area to keep on collecting data, but she found some time to talk: “I have already participated in the PNAD-Covid and in the Continuous PNAD, but never in the Census. As a CCS, I will coordinate other enumerators in 2022. Therefore, I can use the dress rehearsal to experience the reality in the field and acquire more knowledge for the coordination. It is challenging, a little bit complicated in the beginning, though very interesting.” In addition to Taveira, other six enumerators will cover the six enumeration areas of Damolândia in the next days, experiencing the Brazilian reality and contributing in advance with a piece of the large picture that will be the 2022 Population Census.