As part of activities to strengthen utilization of data for planning in PNG, UNFPA and NSO invited 40 statisticians, academics and programmers working with population data to a 5-day training on leading data dissemination software ‘Redatam7’.
REDATAM (Retrieval of Data for Small Areas by Microcomputer) is a user-friendly data dissemination software that allows users to process and generate censuses and other data sets quickly and easily for any geographic area. REDATAM has three modules including the creation of data, processing of data and the administration of data. This 5-day workshop will see the participants look at the concepts of data processing, be guided through how to create a REDATAM database, and participate in hands-on exercises to familiarize themselves with the software.
Facilitated by the United Nations Population Fund in close partnership with the National Statistics Office and with funding from the Australian Government, this workshop will also enable the participants to develop data dissemination materials, contributing to the effective administration and publication of data from the Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey 2022 (results available early 2023) and the National Census.
In her opening remarks, Deputy Statistician and National Census Director Ms. Hajily Kele shared her experience first using REDATAM in 2003 and how user-friendly the software was for team members, even those without a technical background in statistics.
“REDATAM is an important tool, especially for generating data of interest in the subject matter areas where you work,” said Ms. Kele to the participants, including staff from the National Statistical Office, University of Papua New Guinea, National Youth Development Authority, Department of Monitoring and Planning and the National Research Institute.
Ms. Kele also encouraged the participants to use this opportunity to learn as much as they can on the functionality of this software in preparation for the National Census, expected in 2023-2024.
“We have been conducting a series of workshops and this is one component of census preparations under the Population Data Project. I would like to encourage everyone to learn as much as you can so we can do our work diligently in current and future projects.”
UNFPA Deputy Representative and Officer in Charge Dr. Rena Dona welcomed the participants and noted the growing importance of data.
“When you have accurate data, you have confidence in achieving results with your team,” she said. “It is important to take small but consistent steps to be a leader in data. I urge you to learn and be a master of this software so you can teach others.”
Ms Dona said the mark of mastery in the REDATAM software will be when these participants can explain the software, in simple terms, to a general audience.
This activity complements ongoing data collection and data literacy exercises conducted as part of the Population Data Project. This project includes a Population Modelled Estimate (PME) that can provide a count of the national population by age and gender and a Socio-Demographic and Economic Survey, conducted across 5,000 household from June to July 2022. The results of these data collection exercises are anticipated to be available in early 2023.
