On March 28 and 29, the acting President and current Director of Surveys of the IBGE, Cimar Azeredo, visited the city of Fortaleza, in Ceará. The visit is part of a series of trips he has taken to several states in the country, in order to monitor the conclusion of the 2022 Population Census, whose coverage ended on February 29 and which is now in its data processing phase. The trip to Ceará was on the same dates of the National Meeting on Structural Economic Surveys (ENAPE), whose edition in 2023 was held in the capital of Ceará, being attended by IBGE civil servants from all over the countries.

Throughout his two-day visit, Cimar Azeredo had a comprehensive list of events to attend, including his participation in ENAPE, gibving interviews to the press, having meetings with institutions and authorities from the state, visiting Census data collection units and also the headquarters of the IBGE State Superintendence in Ceará, and having meetings with state government agents. On all these occasions, Mr. Azeredo was accompanied by Sinval Dias dos Santos, Assistant to the President, and by the IBGE Superintendent in Ceará, Francisco Lopes.

Strengthening partnerships to finish the Census

The first day of Mr. Azeredo’s scheduled activities, Tuesday (28), started with the participation in the opening ceremony of the National Meeting on Structural Economic Surveys (ENAPE). On this occasion, he spoke abou those 90 plus IBGE civil servants from the 27 Federation Units, which were together at the Beira-Mar Hotel, in Fortaleza, Ceará. The objective of the meeting, held between March 28 and 30, was to set the beginning of data collection and to promote more interaction between the Department of Structural Statistics and Topics on Enterprises (CESET), of the IBGE Directorate of Surveys and the state supervisors of economic surveys. “That is the first ENAPE meeting after the pandemic, and it is my first visit to Fortaleza. It is good to see people so close. These events are important because we can prepare better to fulfill our institutional mission.”

Acting President of the IBGE takes part in opening ceremony of ENAPE 2023

A special participation in the event was that of the Planning Institute of Fortaleza (Iplanfor), represented by the deputy-superintendent Larissa Menescal and also by geographers and economists of the institution. Iplanfor has been a partner of the IBGE in the administration of the Population Census in the capital, working in the planning of the operation and now in the data processing phase. “As a person and on behalf of the institution, I can say I am a great admirer of the IBGE. It is a revolutionary fact how the Institute combines data. We depend a lot on the data that only you produce and based on which we can elaborate, monitor and assess public policies,” said Ms. Menescal, who was invited to participate in the opening ceremony of ENAPE.

Moving ahead with the schedule, the acting President gave interviews to the local press. The media services in Ceará have been a great partner in the dissemination of the 2022 Population Census, and attended this event related to the operation. The topic of the interviews was mainly the progress of the census operation, including the main difficulties faced in data collection, the measures adopted to reduce non-response, besides the expected data for the release of results. “The Census is the main source of information for a country. We will finish the operation and the population will have access to the related information very soon,” Mr. Azeredo announced.

During his two-day visit to Ceará, Cimar Azeredo gave interviews to the press of Ceará state

In the afternoon, Mr. Azered had a number of appointments in the headquarters of the Legislative Council of Ceará (Alece), which is also an important partner of the IBGE Superintendence in the state. The first stop was at the data collection units located in Alece, where he briefly talked to the IBGE civil servants, including census coordinators and supervisors. There, the acting President also gave an interview to communication vehicles of the Legislative Assembly, in which he spoke about his visit to Ceará, the connection with Alece and the final phase of the Census.

The main event in the afternoon was the meeting between Cimar Azeredo and members of the Commission of Studies of Territory Boundaries and Limits of Ceará (Celditec), besides representatives of the Survey Institute and Economic Strategy of Ceará (Ipece). The main objective of the talk was to evaluate the importance and need of extending the partnership established between the IBGE, Alece and Ipece the administration of the Project Atlas for Georeferenced Divisions of Ceará. “A public policy Only exists if there is an instrument for evaluation. Therefore, we need to praise the credibility of the IBGE. Tha tis undeniable, and it is important to assess the implemented public policies.” , said congressman Queiroz Filho, president of Celditec.

The list of appointments of that day ended with one last meeting, with the President of the Legislative Council of Ceará, Evandro Leitão. The congresspersons attending the meeting committed to help the IBGE to finish the Census, and conceived several actions to be developed in partnership with the institute to reach non-enumerated ones. “We, as members of the assembly, are surprised to see the figures in our state, mainly of the capital, of persons who, for some reason, do not accept to be visited by the IBGE. We commit to promote awareness raising activities for the population,” promised the president of Alece. “We thank you for all the support you have given us. That is an example for other representatives. If such a partnership were possible in Every state, our job would be much easier,” Cimar Azeredo explained.

At the Legislative Council, the acting President had a lot of appointments,and congresspersons committed to strengthen the partnership with the IBGE

Interacting with IBGE civil servants

The schedule of Wednesday (29) was characterized by a series of events in the headquarters of the IBGE Superintendence in the state of Ceará. In the morning, the acting President was in a meeting with the civil servants who work in the capital, Fortaleza. The face-to-face meeting was held at the Francisco Cronje Auditorium, with online broadcast for all the IBGE servants working in branches all over the state. In the meeting, Mr. Azeredo reviewed the main difficulties faced throughout the work with the Census, and he also spoke about the main actions, such as the Census test, the launch event, the monthly monitoring and the dissemination of a result preview.

On Wednesday (29) morning, the acting President met with the staff of SES/CE

“We cannot close this Census unless it is really ready, not before we have made every effort to enumerate the population. Everyone has to embrace this Census, wear their vests, and go in the field, because there is very little left to finish,” says the acting President. In the same morning, Cimar Azeredo also visited data collection units located in the headquarters of SES/CE, besides other facilities.

Cimar Azeredo visited the SES/CE facilities

In the afternoon, the vice-mayor of Fortaleza, Élcio Batista, went to the headquarters of SES/CE to speak to the acting President. Élcio, who is also a superintendent of the Planning Institute of Fortaleza (Iplanfor), was together with the deputy superintendent, Larissa Menescal. The talk covered the importance of urban planning and how the IBGE data are essential for that. The necessity of finishing the Census in the 511 subnormal clusters and in the 10% richest municipal population. “Since the beginning of the Census, I have made available resources from the Planning Institute that could be of some help. When I was visited by the Census, I opened my door and even recorded a video. So, what I mean is that we are still here. Whatever we can do to help in the conclusion of this Census, we will,” said the vice-mayor, as he promised that the 3 thousand plus municipal healthcare agents will be ready to cooperate with the operation.

A prefeitura de Fortaleza e o Iplanfor mostraram-se disponíveis para ajudar na finalização do Censo

Finally, it was the Census servants’ turn to have a meeting with the acting President. The event was attended by the Area Coordinators of Fortaleza and Maranguape, the other Census coordinators, besides Municipal Census Agents (ACM), Supervising Census Agents (ACS), Operational Census Agents (ACO) and Computing and Administration Census Agents (ACAI). As in the morning meeting, the meeting was face-to-face but there was an online broadcast for other servants working all over the state.

“Every census has its difficulties, everywhere. But ours is a high-quality one. We have to think of the lessons learned, be aware of what is working of what is not, so that next time our job gets easier,” acknowledged the President, who, in that last meeting, gave the professionals a chance to speak. They had the opportunity of giving suggestions of actions aiming at the conclusion of the 2022 Census and also at the improvement of coming census operations. “We are very proud of you, of your excellence. It was a great pleasure to visit Ceará, thank you very much for your warm welcome,” said Mr. Azeredo, who, after visiting the state, continued on his trip around Brazil, having São Luís-MA as his next stop.

In the afternoon, the acting President met with civil servants who work in Census activities