“We were perceiving that the output of the Census in the state dropped in holidays, which are important for the data collection, as more people are at their homes and, as a general rule, have more spare time. So we decided to encourage the teams to work more in these dates.”

That was how André Urpia, the IBGE superintendent in Bahia (SES/BA), summarized the strategy of providing an additional compensation to enumerators, supervisor census agents (ACSs) and municipal census agents (ACMs) to boost the data collection of the Census on holidays.

André Urpia (right), IBGE superintendent in Bahia, disseminated the Census in condominiums

The measure has already been adopted for October 28, Public Servant Day, November 2, All Souls´ Day, and November 15, Proclamation of the Republic Day. In these dates, those who collect data for the Census earn an extra compensation per interview, which increases even more in case of more than eight questionnaires per day.

And it wasn´t the only action taken by SES/BA in these dates. “We also summoned every servant to go to the streets and follow up the data collection, which produces a hustle, makes the Census visible and helps to open doors and break refusals in the coming days,” completes Urpia. To compensate the work on holidays, the temporary and permanent servants gain a day off.

Condominiums and neighborhoods

The superintendent himself adopted a hands-on approach and went to the field to help to break refusals in condominiums that were obstructing the entrance of enumerators in Salvador. On the Souls´ Day, for instance, with the support of Ilmário Brandão, Sub-area Census Coordinator (CCS) of Amaralina II and three enumerators, Urpia managed to open the doors of five condominiums in the high-income areas of Pituba, Caminho das Árvores and Jardim Armação.

André Urpia visited condominiums in Salvador with CCS Ilmário Brandão and other enumerators

Awareness actions in popular neighborhoods of Salvador, like Mata Escura, in the sub-area of Pirajá, were carried out as well. Led by CCS Gisele Santos, the local team distributed leaflets and sticked banners in strategic points and with higher movement of people.

“It was a success! We managed to talk and clear doubts of several residents of the neighborhood,” celebrates Santos.

CCS Gisele Santos disseminated the Census in the streets of the neighborhood of Mata Escura, in Salvador

Positive results

The measures taken worked out and the state registered the highest productivity in Brazil in the two holidays According to Francisco Brito, Census Operational Coordinator in Bahia, 77,182 interviews were carried out on October 28, which counted 217,915 people in the entire state. It represented 1.45% of the estimated population being enumerated on a single day.

On that date, only Roraima (1.19%) managed to enumerate more than 1% of the population, and the national average stayed at 0.63%.

On November 2, even with the hard rainfall in part of the state, which jeopardized the data collection in some municipalities, 57,645 interviews were carried out, which counted 158,619 inhabitants, 1.06% of the estimated population.

The second state with higher productivity that day was, once again, Roraima, which enumerated 0.87% of its inhabitants that day, and, in Brazil as a whole, the proportion was 0.41%.

Dissemination of the Census was carried out in entire Bahia in the holidays of October 28 and November 2