On Monday, 13 February 2023, a workshop on Population Estimates and Projections was launched by the New Zealand High Commissioner to Tonga, H.E. Matthew Howell.
This workshop is led by Dr. Ofa Afuha’amango Ketu’u and the team from StatsNZ, in co-facilitation with the South Pacific Community (SPC) and hosted by the Tonga Statistics Department (TSD).
Participating in this workshop are stakeholders from the National Statistical System (NSS), namely the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health and the Customs Department, who are the key data providers for this exercise. On the other hand, we also have some of the users of this product as well, such as the Ministry of Education and TSD itself.
We look forward to a week of learning and strengthening capacities and relationships within TSD, as well as the NSS.
For More Information About Population Estimates and Projections, Please Click Here.
Objectives
- Provide joint, face-to-face training and technical guidance to the Tonga Statistics Department (TSD) and their key Tongan Government partners, stakeholders and customers, as TSD work towards producing official population estimates and projections for Tonga based on the 2021 Census.
- Identify the information needs and priorities for 2021-base population estimates and projections for Tonga, across key Tongan Government partners, stakeholders and customers.
- Build TSD, Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Justice (MoJ) knowledge and capability in the following topics, at an introductory level:
- key population concepts and theory
- potential data sources for producing Tongan population estimates and projections
- relevant methods for producing Tongan population estimates and projections
- software options for producing Tongan population estimates and projections
- producing experimental population estimates and projections for Tonga in practice – using the available data sources, plus relevant methods and software
- assessing the quality of population estimates and projections
- reporting and dissemination of results, plus documentation of data sources and methods
- Continue building a strong, positive partnership and working relationship between TSD and its partners, SPC-SDD and Stats NZ staff, to enable TSD to confidently and successfully produce official population estimates and projections for Tonga in 2023.
- Provide an opportunity for Stats NZ staff to learn from and contribute to the experiences of working in a smaller, Pacific-island NSO.
Facilitators
The workshop sessions will be facilitated by Lupe Tupou from the Tonga Statistics Department, Alison Culpin from SPC-SDD (Statistics for Development Division), and Kim Dunstan, Cat Anderson and Tracey Savage from Stats NZ.
