35,000 people wanted by National Census

Add to your family fortunes by dusting down the photo album and sending off a few of your treasured snap-shots to the The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS), online photo competition.

The ONS ‘Then and now: family stories’ photo competition was launched in October last year in a drive to encourage more people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities to fill in next year’s census forms.

The competition open to families across England and Wales encourages a celebration of the personal histories behind the changing face of Britain in the last 50 years.

The Census and Olympus competition is open until 31st January and they want to hear your stories told through words and pictures,  so dust down the albums or get snapping.  Celebrity judges BBC broadcaster Kurt Barling, journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and TV presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli are waiting to hear your story. 

The ONS are also recruiting 35,000 people for full, part-time and temporary jobs, to help locals complete and return their census questionnaire.

Roles include census coordinators, to manage local teams; collectors, who will provide doorstep help; and enumerators, to work with establishments like care homes, hotels and student halls of residence.

Speaking about her work Tosin Sarayi a Community advisor in Birmingham for the 2011 Census, says “I’m working with the Black Caribbean community in Birmingham, speaking to people in the community and encouraging them to complete their census questionnaires.

In my volunteering role with a community group called Bliss 4 ALL in Rednal, Birmingham, we have used census data to justify funding for our community centre. We had to show information on what the local population is like, how it would benefit the area and how many young people there were in the area.

A lot of people, even the ones who use census data themselves, don’t know how important it is until we explain it. It’s all about approaching people in a friendly way and saying “Have you ever filled in a funding application or taken part in a community activity? Well, census data is a part of that.”

If people are familiar with the people that are approaching them, then they are more eager to listen than if they’re faced with someone in a suit who is nothing like them. It’s important to meet people where they are and talk in terms that matter to them”.

When I saw this job advertised it was a joy to see that I can engage with a community which I love, doing the kind of work I do already, and actually help to get statistics that I’ve had to use myself in the past.

Khudeja Amer-Sharif a Community advisor in Leicester, Oadby and Wigston for the 2011 Census from the east Midlands added; “I work in particular with the Indian community in Leicester, Oadby and Wigston, to raise awareness of the census, promote it and encourage people to complete it.

What appealed to me about the role was that I do a lot of engagement work, I understand the barriers communities are faced with, and

I thought that this would be a real opportunity to make a difference. I’ve worked in the past with a lot of community groups, looking at funding and writing bids, and I understand the frustration of identifying a real need but not having the data to back that up.

The key is to translate the census into terms which really do matter to the people in these communities. For example, the Indian community in particular is an aging community and so planning the services they’ll need in the future is really relevant. What’s good is that the people I’ve already spoken to clearly understand the census is of real benefit and so are keen to be part of it.

It’s going to be a very busy time – but I know that it will be very worthwhile, because the census has a real impact on people’s lives”.

The next census will take place on 27 March 2011. (Application details are available at  census jobs  and also at local job and community centres).