9.2 Household
9.2.1 A household is a person or group of persons who reside in the same homestead/compound but not necessarily in the same dwelling unit, have same cooking arrangement, and are answerable to the same household head.
There are three important questions used to identify a household.
a) Do the persons reside in the same compound? (i.e. the persons in the household may reside under same roof or several roofs in the same compound)
b) Are they answerable to the same head? (i.e. persons in a household are answerable to a person they recognize to have authority)
c) Do they have the same cooking arrangement? (i.e. members of a household cook together)
If the answer to each of the above criteria is "yes", then you have adequately identified a household. If the answer to one or more of these criteria is "no", then there are more than one household.
There are two types of households: conventional and non?conventional households.
9.2.2 Conventional households
- Usually consist of a person or a group of persons who live together in the same homestead/compound but not necessarily in the same dwelling unit, have same cooking arrangements, and are answerable to the same household head. It is important to remember that members of a household are not necessarily related (by blood or marriage).
- Determination of households may not be easy. However, the following examples should guide you in deciding who should form a household.
- A household may consist of one or more persons and may occupy a whole building or part of a building or many buildings in the same compound/homestead.
- If two or more groups of persons live in the same dwelling unit and have separate cooking arrangements, treat them as separate households.
- A domestic worker who lives and eats with the household should be included in the household. If the domestic worker cooks and eats separately, he/she should be enumerated as a separate household.
- The particulars of persons who will have spent the Census night with another household should be recorded in the questionnaire for that particular household where they were that night i.e. visitors. For people attending ceremonies such as burials and weddings etc. from the neighborhood, they should be enumerated with their usual households, if not from the neighborhood, enumerate them with this household.
- In a polygamous marriage, if the wives are living in separate dwelling units and have separate cooking arrangement treat the wives as separate households. Each wife with other persons who live with her will therefore constitute a separate household. The husband will be listed in the household where he will have spent the Census night. If the wives cook together and live in the same compound, and are answerable to one head then treat them as one "household".
- It is the custom in many parts of Kenya for boys to live in separate quarters between circumcision and marriage, while continuing to take their meals with their parents. Enumerate them with their parent's households. For those who "borrow sleep" they should be enumerated with their usual households.
- For census purposes, you will list only those persons who will have spent the Census night (the Night of 24/25 August 2009) with the household, whether visitors, servants, etc.
9.2.3 Unconventional households
- There are cases where certain rules used to decide what a household is do not apply. Here are some guidelines to help you:
- Sometimes groups of people live together but cannot be said to belong to an "ordinary" household. Examples are hospital in?patients, people in police cells, travelers, guests in hotels, or prison inmates and outdoor sleepers. These are "special" population groups and will be covered separately, using short questionnaires. Students in boarding schools and colleges, military barracks and GSU camps will be enumerated using the main questionnaire. The name of the institution will be written at the top of the questionnaire form. The District Census Committees (DCC) will make arrangements to have this population enumerated. Some of the institutional managers may also be called upon to help with the enumeration of these "special" population groups (or non?conventional households). Such persons shall all be enumerated strictly on the Census night.
- Vagrants/outdoor sleepers will be enumerated using the relevant short questionnaire. You will be required to record the place/street of enumeration and collect details about all the persons at the place of enumeration. The required information include: name, sex, age, home district/country, tribe/nationality, and education level. Arrangements will be made to have some members of the street families to accompany enumerators during the census. The DCC will make the necessary arrangements to have them enumerated and such persons shall all be enumerated strictly on the Census night.
- A short questionnaire specific for the population in hotels/lodges and boarding houses, police cells, prison and hospital will also be issued. On the evening of the Census night, hotel managers, heads of hospitals, police stations and prisons, with the assistance of the supervisors and /or enumerators, will ensure that all persons who will spend the Census night in these institutions are enumerated. The DCC will make the necessary arrangements and such persons shall all be enumerated strictly on the Census night. Information to be collected include: name, sex, age, duration of stay, education level, home district/country, tribe/nationality. Duration of stay should be in months if less than one year. For example, people who have been in prison for 6 months should be recorded as '6' under the column for months and "0" under the column for years. Those who have stayed for over a year, say 2 years 5 months should be recorded as '5' in the column for months and '2' in the column for years.
- Persons working in institutions such as those listed above but who live in their own households should be enumerated with their own household members and not with the institution. Thus, a nurse on night duty should be enumerated with her household and not with patients at the hospital. Similarly, a teacher should be enumerated with his/her household and not with students or boarders at the school or training institution. The same applies to night workers of all kind such as watchmen, factory workers, policemen etc. Probe to establish whether this group of workers has households where they usually reside. If they don't, enumerate them as outdoor sleepers.
- All persons who will be on transit or travelling on the Census night by road, rail, water or air will be enumerated at the place of boarding or disembarkment. You will be issued with short questionnaires for the purpose of enumerating such people. You will also be supplied with Enumeration Cards to issue to such persons once you count them. Inform them that they are to keep the cards until the census is over to avoid being counted twice. The information required from such people include: name, sex, age, home district/country, and tribe/nationality. Do not spend a lot of time trying to establish the age of such respondents. A rough estimate will do. The DCC or the Divisional census committee will make the necessary arrangements to have them enumerated and such persons shall all be counted strictly on the Census night.