BARBADOS – UNICEF conducted a workshop on the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) from May 8th- 16th in Barbados. The workshop on the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS), which explained the survey methodology extensively, is used for gathering, socio-economic and environmental data on women and children and for the Monitoring of some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) around the world. The MICS Survey Design Workshop was attended by country representatives that are planning or considering conducting a MICS or a household survey to collect social indicators in the near future.
The workshop was well attended by several governmental senior representatives of the Eastern Caribbean countries, like Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados. There were also representatives from Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Guyana and Suriname present. Sint Maarten was represented by Ms. Drs. Loekie Morales of the Department of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, Ms. Sabrina Jno-Baptiste of the Department of Statistics (STAT) and Mrs. Elmora Aventurin-Pantophlet of the Youth department.
Since 1995, UNICEF has supported the implementation of five rounds of Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys around the globe, with close to 300 surveys conducted in more than 100 countries. The MICS is becoming a key source of data on child protection, early childhood education, and a major source of data on child health, nutrition and MDGs. For this particular workshop, UNICEF has partnered with the OECS Commission and UN ECLAC.
The underlining objective of the training was to accelerate data collection, analysis and the usage, achieve stronger statistical capacity and increase data availability. It also provided an opportunity to understand the current data gaps in the region and the available tools and programs of support for sourcing statistics on key social SDG indicators.
UNICEF Netherlands invited Sint Maarten to participate and supported this capacity building program by funding the travel and accommodation costs of the Sint Maarten’s government representatives. Sint Maarten embraces the aim of the workshop and appreciates these efforts to support evidence based policy development and to advance the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for Sint Maarten.
The information in the program serves Sint Maarten with the development of surveys and in its way also to develop a Roadmap for SDGs implementation on Sint Maarten, and for effectively monitoring the national SDG agenda, mainly on children and women. The Sint Maarten representatives will give presentations on the methodologies to the relevant Secretary Generals and Ministers and share the templates and other documentation with the relevant line ministries and departments, to stimulate evidence-based policy making.
