As had been done for the previous census round, the Statistics Division intends
to prepare international census guidelines for the 2020 round. In addition to the
third revision of the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing
Censuses, the Division will update existing information, as necessary, or prepare
new handbooks and technical reports. For example, the Division will update the
Handbook on Census Management for Population and Housing Censuses 12 in order
to align it with contemporary census practices, including to provide examples at the
country level of good practices in the planning and management of censuses, based
on recent experience. The update will also include guidance in areas that either were
not adequately addressed or fully elaborated in the current version of the handbook:
an area for enhancement refers to practical guidelines on quality assurance in terms
of setting measurable goal/indicators for census activities; monitoring and
evaluating performance vis-à-vis the overall goals; and risk assessment and
mitigation. The revised handbook aims to present adequate guidelines on the
contract management and monitoring of outsourced census activities; on the
systematic recording and documentation of the census experience in order to
preserve institutional memory; and on the development and implementation of a
communication, publicity and advocacy strategy for census activities covering the
entire process, including for enhanced dissemination and utilization of results.