Participation of FETAPH in the 5th General Population and Housing Census (RGPH) in Togo

As part of the process of the fifth general population and housing census (RGPH-5) in Togo, the Fédération Togolaise des Associations des Personnes Handicapées (FETAPH) has set up an initiative supported by partners such as CBM, GIZ, DAHW, ANESVAD, HI which consists of working alongside the National Institute of Statistics and Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED) in order to contribute to making available reliable statistical data relating to disability and persons with disabilities in Togo.

The objective of this initiative is to correct the shortcomings recorded during the 4th RGPH which gave 1.6% of persons with disabilities out of a total population of 6,191,155 inhabitants.

For this first initiative, FETAPH contracted with a consultant, an academic to design awareness tools in order to change social practices that lead to the de facto exclusion of persons with disabilities.

To operationalise our initiative, INSEED senior managers were trained on the Washington Group questionnaire, a tool that collects demographic data on six areas of functionality and even classifies degrees of limitations in functionality that may lead to disabilities. An additional question on albinism was included.

To achieve the objective of the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the census, the capacities of more than one hundred (100) members of organisations of persons with disabilities were reinforced on the best strategy for a successful inclusive census. It will be important to accompany them to make sure that all persons with disabilities were counted by the enumerators in the families.

More than a thousand direct actors of the census and members of the local census committees (CLR) have been trained on the inclusive census. Thus, these key actors of the census will be able to lead the entire process from the receipt of application files for the recruitment of enumerators to the proclamation of the results of the selection of candidates and the direct administration of counting operations in households.

The members of the CLR, all deeply rooted in the community, and comprising canton chiefs, the heads of technical services, the mayors, under the direction of the prefect, play a key role. In addition, the national press provides the permanent secretariat.

The 883 members were trained along with 480 members of organisations of persons with disabilities in order to create a synergy of action during the census.

The integration of the Washington Group's questionnaire and participation in the pilot census made it possible to validate the effectiveness of this innovative approach. Indeed, following the capacity building of senior INSEED staff, the WG questionnaire was integrated into the collection tool designed for the census on page 4 with the headings – albinism and presence of disability. This was tested during the pilot census. The counting carried out there made it possible to determine an incidence of disability at a rate of 11.6%.

To extend this performance, capacity building for operational staff was conducted for 45 working days to give the skills to master the Washington Group questionnaire to these actors in the field.

Finally, 150 senior managers, 740 controllers and 14,000 enumerators participated in these sessions.

Media campaigns are underway for social mobilisation in favour of the census of all, especially persons with disabilities.