For World Population Day, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) developed the Virtual Seminar "The importance of the Census of Population, Housing and Communities to guarantee the rights and options of all people".
This seminar generated a space for reflection and analysis on the importance of the Census to obtain updated socio-demographic information for Ecuador, which allow us to know the population, their needs and the underlying factors that lead to structural discrimination and intersectional inequalities.
Jorge García, Deputy Director General of INEC, noted that the fact of incorporating new variables generates debate around the subject. This is positive, because it leads to adressing issues that are not normally discussed, such as: people and nationals, identity, sexual diversity and urban fauna, among others.
INEC's challenge is to generate reliable and useful information for the definition of public policies. It is necessary to give visibility to populations that do not appear in the figures and to collect data from the whole society. Jorge García stressed that "the heart of the Census is the questionnaire" as more than 1,800 people from the public sector, academia and civil society groups were involved in developing the census.
"The heart of the Census is the questionnaire" - Jorge Garcia, INEC Deputy Director General
Markus Behrend, UNFPA representative for Ecuador spoke about the value of achieving demographic resilience:
"It begins with a commitment to count the number of people and the opportunities for progress and the barriers that stand in their way. The data generated by the census will be a critical input for the implementation of evidence-based public policies that will enable us to meet the challenges arising from demographic changes."
Vanessa Carrera, Population and Development Advisor of UNFPA Ecuador, presented the usefulness of the data the census will generate for public policy planning and emphasized that the results of the census will allow for characterizing indigenous peoples and nationalities, Afro-descendants and montubios, people with disabilities, LGBTIQ+ population, refugee and migrant population, elderly people, amongst other population groups.
She pointed out that "It is essential that public policies are effective, inclusive and with a human rights approach".
This seminar was held within the framework of World Population Day, whose global theme is "A world of 8 billion, towards a resilient future: seizing opportunities and ensuring rights and choices for all".
