Using Indigenous Knowledge in the Demarcation of Enumeration Areas

Using Indigenous Knowledge in the Demarcation of Enumeration Areas: Case Study of the Banta Chiefdom of Moyamba District, Sierra Leone

Borbor Sama Kandeh

ACAP Working Paper No. 2

ABSTRACT

A vital component of census work is the demarcation of statistical areas sometimes referred to as enumeration areas for the field enumeration. The objective of this paper is to show that indigenous knowledge about local government administration boundaries should be an integral part of the enumeration area demarcation exercise. This promotes greater cooperation and participation of the grassroots population in the field enumeration as well as increases the utilization of the results in the provision of services for local communities. Indigenous knowledge is unique to every culture and society. It is the basis for local decision-making in agriculture, health, natural resource management, and other activities. It is embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships, and rituals. Sierra Leone has had a long experience with indigenous administrative boundaries, predating colonial rule, which was established in the Western Area in 1807 and in the rest of the country in 1896. The bulk of the country, then known as “The Protectorate,” had chiefdoms that had been established by warriors, which the British colonialists conveniently administered by indirect rule. The basic political unit in chiefdoms is a “section” comprised of a number of towns and villages. These sections, each headed by a section chief, are used extensively in local administrative activities such as customary law and local tax collection. The section is also the level at which most community activities take place and most chiefdom tasks and responsibilities are assigned. There are however no maps showing the demarcation of sections within chiefdoms. Enumeration areas were formulated for the first nationwide census carried out in April 1963. Part of the pre-enumeration activities for the 1963 census was the definition and preparation of maps of units of land for the field enumeration Localities consist of villages, hamlets (fakai) and cattle posts (worreh) in rural areas, and towns and cities in urban areas. The results for Banta chiefdom show a total of 9 sections, 23 enumeration areas, 85 localities by section and 151 localities by enumeration area. These initial results show inconsistencies in the number of locality listings for sections and enumeration areas, as it appears that nearly half of the localities for the chiefdom are missing from the list of localities by section. The next step is to explain this discrepancy and after rectifying it, establish a system where the enumeration areas and sections are integrated so that enumeration areas are subsets of sections, which is not the case at the moment. The major significance of this integrated system is that even in the absence of up-to-date maps, there will be a current correct listing of localities, which can be easily understood by the majority of the population. This is useful for a country like Sierra Leone, which cannot now undertake a full-scale cartographic exercise for the rural areas are in the midst of a rebel war.