Village Leaders as Data Collectors: Willing, Capable, and Rational

This pilot study examined the process of training local elected officials to collect population data in three sub-counties in northern Uganda. The northern region is emerging from a protracted civil war that disrupted local governance structures, particularly the role of the elected village leader. For more than a decade, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, and researchers have gathered information using local leaders and communities as informants, but not data collectors. This study trained village leaders to take on the latter role. Results suggest that this approach is both efficient and accurate, and that village leaders are willing, capable, and rational data collectors.