Regional training workshop on the use of REDATAM for the dissemination of census and survey microdata

Introduction

REDATAM is a software programme developed and supported by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for the processing, analysis and dissemination of data from censuses and household surveys. The REDATAM software makes it possible for statistical offices to provide online access to their census and survey microdata in a way which permits interactive tabulation, calculation of indicators, and creation of maps, while still protecting the confidentiality of individual statistical records. It has been used primarily to disseminate population and housing census data but can also be used to provide online access to living conditions and other household surveys. In the long term, improved online access to these data sources will encourage their use in research, development planning and evidence-based policymaking.

REDATAM has been widely used by national statistical offices in Latin America for many years and is increasingly being used by statistical offices in the Caribbean as well as some countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Since it was first introduced to statistical offices in the Caribbean in the 1990s, the number of countries using REDATAM for online dissemination of census data has grown to ten: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Belize, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. ECLAC continues to work with a number of other countries to make more datasets available online.

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) and the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) both carried out their census field work in 2022. Both statistical offices plan to make their census data available online using REDATAM but need technical assistance to support creation of the web applications. In the case of Jamaica, the IT team, previous members of which used REDATAM to make the 2011 census available online, has since undergone a complete turnover of staff, and therefore training in REDATAM is needed. Staff of the SIB have some experience of REDATM but also need training in web application development. This one-week workshop is therefore being organized to focus primarily on training staff working in IT and statistical computing who will use REDATAM for web application development. This will include training the newest version of the REDATAM software (RedatamX), which incorporates significant improvements and changes compared with the previous version (Redatam7) that has been in use since 2014.

Format of the workshop

The workshop will be conducted over a period of five days, from Monday 18 November to Friday 22 November 2024. Daily sessions will run from 09:30 hours to 12:30 hours and 13:30 hours to 16:30 hours. It will be hosted by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, at their offices in Kingston. The workshop sessions will be led by ECLAC staff but will have a practical orientation and all participants will install the software on their laptops to complete exercises and work with real datasets.

Workshop Facilitators

The workshop will be facilitated by ECLAC staff who are experienced in providing training and support in the use of the REDATAM software, including its lead developer. There will be facilitators from both the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and CELADE (the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre – Population Division of ECLAC) based at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

Expected outcomes

(a)        Increased capacity of participants to use REDATAM for the storage, processing, analysis and dissemination of census and survey data.

(b)        Both participating statistical offices will develop web applications that will be made available online providing interactive access to data from their 2022 censuses.