Interviewer instructions
1.4. Housing
This second part is devoted to housing, and aims at listing all housing units for the households at time of the census, at gathering information on building characteristics, and to obtain indicators on the conditions in which the population is housed.
3. Column H17: Main wall materials
The aim is to describe the materials utilized for the external wall of the dwelling unit. If the dwelling unit itself is composed of several buildings, then a question is about the choice of the building to describe.
Two cases do exist:
a. The dwelling unit for the household has only one building; therefore this is this building that shall be described
b. The dwelling unit for the household is made of several independent buildings. In this case, choose the building that you will consider the main building, while referring for instance to a durability criteria. However, this building shall be used as a housing unit to be chosen. Once the building has been chosen, try to determine the materials of which the external walls are made, while asking the household head.
Possible cases selected are:
[] 1 Hard wall
[] 2 Semi-hard wall
[] 3 Mud brick (adobe)
[] 4 Wood or straw
[] 5 Other material
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The definitions are the following:
Hard wall: Walls are said to be "hard" when they are made of bricks, stone, or cement, or even when they are made of concrete (a mix of cement, gravel or stone), and covered or not with cement.
Semi-hard wall: Walls are said to be "semi-hard" when they are made of mud bricks, covered with cement.
Mud brick (adobe or banco): Walls are said to be "adobe" when they are made of mud bricks, covered or not by a mud coating.
Wood or straw: Walls are made of straw, wood, bamboo, palm leaves, herb sticks plait, etc..., covered or not by a mud coating or by cement.
Other materials: The walls do not fit in any of the above categories.
Ask the following question to the household head: "What are the materials used for the construction of the walls?"
Refer to the above definitions, and circle the number corresponding to the given answer.
Example 1. The household head says that the building was made of a mix of cement and gravel. The walls are covered with cement, and whitewashed. COLUMN H17 is therefore filled in by circling number (1): Hard walls
Example 2: The building to be described is a tent. One must then circle number (5): Other material.
Example 3: The building to be described is made of mud bricks, covered with a mud coating.
Here, one shall circle number (3): Adobe
N.B: Institutional households are also concerned with the question on wall material. However, the dwelling units of the private households located within the same yard as these institutions shall be considered separately, on a private household census form.
