Over 60 head enumerators and assistant head enumerators who will be responsible for managing 29 teams of enumerators scheduled to conduct housing & population surveys in every home across Dutch St. Maarten during April 9 – 17, 2011, recently endured extensive training that will equip them to train their teams during follow up trainings on March 28 to April 8.
Past trainings were held on March 15th and 17th which were catered to the assistant enumerators. The trainings were led by Senior Statistical Analyst, Ms. Maurette Antersijn of the Department of Statistics, which entailed an in-depth look at the questionnaires while carefully analyzing how to ask the questions and how they should be answered as well as very interactive exercises that reflected to-be-expected situations during the actual census.
"We want to make sure that we get a solid base for the future of country St. Maarten. In these last trainings we have been working to guarantee that goal as much as possible", stated Maurette Antersijn. A follow-up training was then held on March 23 tailored to both the assistant head enumerators and head enumerators also led by Ms. Antersijn.
"This training focused specifically equipping the enumerators on team building and team management, information management, sensitivity management, confidentiality and safety precautions in detail. We made sure that the head enumerators and the assistant head enumerators are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to carry them through the Census week," said Ms. Antersijn.
The last phase of the trainings trainings were led by Inspector Ricardo Henson and Commissioner of Police Carl John, who covered team management, communication strategies and safety instructions.
These groups of head enumerators are responsible for 29 groups of enumerators who will be divided by an average of 15 persons per group. The 29 groups are all allocated to 29 districts that make up the Dutch side of St. Maarten. Head enumerators will not be interviewing the households, instead they are required to meet on a daily basis to discuss and evaluate daily progress, monitor results, handle problem areas and act as back up for their managed groups.
The enumerators assigned to the 29 districts; which total over 500 individuals including special teams and reserves, are accountable for visiting people's homes and institutions to collect the necessary information to complete the Census 2011 questionnaires during the census week on April 9th through 17th. The districts were separated in a manner that would allow each member of that group to interview on average 30-35 houses.
All enumerators will undergo extensive training from March 28- 8 by their team leader and the Department of Statistics in order to prepare them to go out into the field and adequately conduct the 2011 Census. Enumerators will be educated in various information areas such as sensitivity, time, situation, and safety management as well as other areas of that nature.
For more information and questions pertaining to Census 2011 please contact Senior Statistical Analyst, Maurette Antersijn at the Department of Statistics at 542-2151/542-2355. Or visit the Census 2011 Website at www.mysxmcensus2011.org
