In order to be successful, easily entering the neighborhoods and being well received by residents, the 2022 Population Census is required many times to carry out a previous awareness work in the communities. Thinking about this, coordinators and supervisors in Ceará have fostered a number of dissemination initiatives, aiming at streamlining the work of enumerators. It is the case of the events carried out by the Mondubim and Maraponga teams, under the supervision of the Area Coordinator Luciano Vieira, which are taking the Census message to the population of these localities.

Seeding awareness about the Census

“’I only answer if you give me money’ or ‘I only answer if you bring the police’ are common sentences heard here in the neighborhood.  The closer enumeration areas are those in which we have the highest indexes of non-response: more than 15% in some cases. Many people do not even know what a Census is, sometimes due to lack of interest,” reports Vanessa Tavares, a Municipal Census Agent (ACM) of the data collection station of Mondubim I. The neighborhood she refers is Parque Santana in Fortaleza (CE), where enumerators are facing a lot of difficulties, either with households with absent residents or with persons refusing to answer it.

To overcome the resistance of the population, Census professionals who work in the region had a very interesting idea: use a school in the neighborhood to take the Census message to youngsters. In the morning of September 19, the School of Primary and Secondary Education State of Maranhão received the IBGE team, which spoke about the census operation and distributed information material.

In Parque Santana in Fortaleza (CE), the IBGE spoke in a school

Tavares considers that the event was key to disseminate the work of the Census, not only for the 2022 edition, but also for the next ones, since those children will be the adults in charge of the households the IBGE will visit in the future. “We hope that the students help us by informing their parents. We thank the school, which received us very well. Our presence took the clerks to answer the Census. I believe that presentations like this should continue to exist,” concluded the ACM.

More records of the presentation in the School State of Maranhão

Gathering support for the Census

“The leaders were willing to support the IBGE, by disseminating in the community the importance of responding to the survey, as well as by talking with the residents who refuse to answer it. They were also willing to follow the enumerators in places of difficult access, as well as providing neighborhood associations as support points,” commented Nilce Pinheiro, Census Coordinator of the Sub-area of Maraponga on the results of a meeting that the IBGE carried out with two subnormal agglomerates (AGSNs) in Fortaleza (CE).

The IBGE met leaders and folks in the communities of Rosalina and Santa Rosa in Fortaleza (CE)

In the morning of September 9, the Census Planning and Monitoring Meeting (Repac) of the communities of Rosalina and Riacho Doce, located in the neighborhoods of Parque Dois Irmãos and Passaré, respectively, was held. The meeting was carried out in Gomes Space, a recreation area in the community of Riacho Doce. At that time, the teams that work in the area were introduced and the Population Census, explained, as well as its steps, importance for the community and how the leaders and the population might help.

Pinheiro reminded that both communities had already been partners of the IBGE, especially in the Urban Survey of the Household Surroundings, which was easily carried out due to the support of the community leaders. “The leaders were very attentive, because they know the importance of our work. They reported the difficulties they have in the community and how this information is being expected by them, as it might help in the improvements they request. They want everyone to participate,” celebrated the CCS.

More records of the Repac in the communities of Rosalina and Santa Rosa