News and Events

Ghana Statistical Service had a meeting with Development Partners on Thursday 5th November at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel. The meeting was organised in collaboration with UNFPA, the lead global partner in census implementation. The purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum for Development Partners to discuss strategic engagement in the Ghana 2021 PHC process. Development Partners present included the World Bank, IOM, UNHCR, DFID, JICA, and the Embassy of Denmark.

The meeting featured remarks from the United Nations Resident Coordinator, Mr Charles Abani and the United National Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Representative, Mr. Niyi Ojuolape. Their remarks focused on the shared interest of partners in supporting successful census and having a productive partnership with the Government of Ghana and with Ghana Statistical Service to make that possible. The meeting also featured presentations by the Government Statistician, Professor Samuel Kobina Annim and the Chief Technical Advisor to the Ghana 2021 PHC, Dr. Collins Opiyo who provided an overview of census implementation and the areas of strategic support required respectively.

This meeting is the first in a series of continuous long-term engagements with the Development Partners and other census stakeholders.



CAPI Training of Chief and Deputy Chief Trainers Chief and Deputy Chief Trainers had a four-day residential training on Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) in Teiman. CAPI is one of the key areas in the census process that requires several experts to handle its training at the various levels. However, there were only a few experts who are available. In order to address this issue, there was the need to equip the Chief and Deputy Chief Trainers who will also empower the Master Trainers and subsequently, to empower the national and regional trainers as well, with enough skills to address the gap. CAPI training for Master Trainers is scheduled to follow that of the Chief and Deputy Chief Trainers.

PHC 2021 Census Newsletter Issue 1 available: GSS has initiated the publication of a quarterly census newsletter, which aims to provide information to all stakeholders on the census process. The first issue themed “Know Your Census Team” is now available. Download the newsletter here:

Recruitment of Regional Trainers GSS is recruiting applicants from all districts in the country to participate in a pre-certification training programme designed for trainers of national censuses and surveys. The training will certify participants as professional trainers who have communication, management, and leadership skills to effectively train others on a large and complex scale and qualify them as trainers for the upcoming Population and Housing Census and future censuses. Applications are being accepted until November 15th. For more information visit:

Pre-Certification of National Trainers for Censuses GSS has started virtual training of prospective National Trainers for the 2021 PHC. Following a competitive application and screening process, National Trainers have been enrolled into virtual classrooms by region. The training objectives revolve around capacity building, exposure to and appreciation of ethical behaviour and dispensation of professionalism during training and data collection. Master Trainers will be responsible for facilitating the training. The curriculum for this training programme has been designed by the Chief, Deputy Chief Trainers and CAPI trainers for the 2021 PHC. Review of the training materials were conducted in collaboration with GSS Management, the Census Coordinating Team, Curriculum Reviewers, and the Master Trainers. The training started with a virtual orientation that featured presentations by the Government Statistician, the UNFPA Chief Technical Advisor and Chair of the National Census Technical Advisory Committee sub-committee on Recruitment and Training. In addition, resource persons from the University of Ghana, the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration and the University of Cape Coast are providing training content on administration, communication skills, emotional intelligence and classroom management.

Review of training materials: GSS is currently reviewing the training materials (presentations, Field Officers’ manual and Trainers’ guide) for the 2021 Population and Housing census in collaboration with Curriculum Reviewers made up of faculty from the nations’ public universities. The review meetings which took place over a seven-week period were held virtually via Zoom.