Each year, UNFPA selects a different theme to
rally around. The
theme of this year’s World Population Day is ‘Everyone Counts’.
This themeunderscores the
importance of data for development; it
fosters an
understanding of why reliable, disaggregated data is so crucial
to progress; and itencourages people
to participate in the census and other data collection efforts.
The seminar has been divided into panel
discussions on four themes: 1) Population
Census for National Development; 2) Importance of Conducting
Timely Census; 3) The Gender Dimension of Population Census and
Changing Age Structure; and 4) The Role of Media in Making
Population Census a Successful Exercise.
UOG Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad
Nizamuddin will deliver the welcome address, to be followed by
opening remarks by UNFPA Office-in-Charge in Pakistan Jose
Ferraris. Chief guest MNA Dr Attiya Inayatullah will make the
keynote address on this occasion.
The first high-level panel discussion on
‘Population Census for National Development’ will be chaired by
Dr Inayatullah while Dr Nizamuddin will be the moderator. The
panelists include Population
Welfare Secretary Shaukat Hayat Durrani, Pakistan Institute of
Development Economics Vice Chancellor Dr Rashid Amjad, Establishment
Division Additional Secretary Kazi
Afaq Hossain, Chief
Census Commissioner Khizar Hayat Khan, and Federal Bureau of
Statistics Director General Arif Cheema.
This panel discussion will focus on the
significance of population census for Pakistan’s development,
and highlight the need for allocating the national budget and
implementing development projects corresponding to the
distribution of population across the country. The panelists
will discuss different dimensions of the issue and offer
recommendations for the integration of population issues into
the national development planning process.
The second panel discussion on ‘Importance of
Conducting Timely Census’ will be chaired by Statistics
Division Secretary Saeed Ahmad Khan. The panelists include UNFPA
Chief Census Technical Adviser Armando Raul Levinson, Joint
Census Commissioner (Karachi) Farooq Ahmed, Punjab Bureau of
Statistics Director-General Shamim Rafique and Joint Census
Commissioner (Quetta) Abdul Wahab.
This panel discussion will advocate for
conducting the Sixth Population Census at the earliest, as well
as highlight the structural, political and technical impediments
to conducting a timely and accurate census. The panelists will
also identify what measures are needed to address these issues,
besides making a strong case for quality data collection and
analysis.