UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund, and the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus signed an Agreement on the implementation of the Project “Support to the 2009 Population and Housing Census in the Republic of Belarus” on August, 7. The Project is defined until the year of 2012. According to the document, the UNFPA will mobilize international expertise and more than USD 830,000 of funding to support the up-coming Census during the Project implementation. The Project will be launched after being registered by the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus. 

The cooperation between the UNFPA and the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis aims at increasing the capacity of the national statistics system to conduct the population census in 2009 in order to insure a high quality of the resulting data of the census.

- The 2009 census in Belarus differs greatly from what we did in 1999 from the technological point of view, - Deputy Minister of Statistics and Analysis Head of the Population Census Department Ms. Svetlana Novoselova said. – We are going to use scanned data input system for the first time. The new technologies used will contribute to improving the quality of the census data.

Alongside with improving methodological and technical/technological components of the census, inc development and introduction of an automated data input and processing system, another major outcome of the Project is preparing the census results for the dissemination nationally and internationally.

As the result of the Project implementation the 2009 Census data should be accessible not only through official publications, ready made tables and analytical reports but the data should also be easy to get, for instance, via the Internet. This will open to users an access to the data, as well as users will be able to set a format of the data on their own – the data can be categorised based on some given criteria, unique tables can be defined etc. 
The Project also foresees raising the potential statistical data users’ awareness of possibilities of the Census results use.

- The population census as a statistical activity is not over immediately after undertaking the enumeration, - the UNFPA Country Director Peer Sieben pointed out. – The meaning of a census is that the population data gathered during the enumeration period could be used to the maximum possible extend in population forecast, as well as in social and economical policy planning. This is why the Project is defined until the year of 2012 and it envisages not only technical support during the Census preparation and conduct but involvement of international experts and experience during the Census follow-up period after 2009.

Thus, in order to increase the effectiveness of the Census results use while developing national and regional programs of social and economic development a range of educational and informational activities will be undertaken for policy makers, scientists and researchers. The activities will concern the issues of the 2009 Census results application.

In preparation and conduct of the Census, the UNFPA will be contributing to introducing and applying relevant international standards, methods and practices. To this end, the Project will benefit from international expertise brought to the country by the UNFPA on census implementation and evaluation and in the dissemination of the census results. There will be study tours of the Ministry of Statistic and Analysis personnel to some European countries in order to learn from the experience in the field of conducting population censuses.