Central Statistics Organization - Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survery
The (MICS) programme developed by UNICEF assists countries in filling data gaps for monitoring the situation of children and women through statistically sound, internationally comparable estimates of socioeconomic and health indicators. The household survey programme is the largest source of statistical information on children.

In 1990, participants of the World Summit for Children adopted a set of goals to promote the welfare of children. At the same time, they recognized that many countries lacked the capacity to accurately measure progress toward these goals. UNICEF answered the call and developed MICS, which have been conducted every five years since 1995. Each round of surveys builds upon the last and offers new indicators to monitor current priorities in addition to monitoring trends. Almost half of the MDG indicators are also collected through MICS, making it one of the largest single sources of data for MDG monitoring.
Since the initiation of the programme, nearly 200 surveys have been implemented in approximately 100 countries. The fourth round of MICS has been launched in 2009 globally.

Results from MICS, including national reports, standard sets of tabulations, and micro level datasets, are widely disseminated after completion of the surveys. These are available at http://www.childinfo.org, where users can also access MICS-related dissemination materials and templates. MICS data are also used for evidence-based policy analysis, such as in the ongoing Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities carried out in 40 countries and seven regions http://www.unicefglobalstudy.blogspot.com/.

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survery in Afghanistan

The Government of Afghanistan has committed to monitoring the goals of the MDGs, ANDS, World fit for Children Declaration and Plan of Action signed at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002.

The lack of updated and disaggregated data has been identified as one of the major challenges facing Afghanistan as well, as the last MICS was conducted in 2003. Therefore, the Government of Afghanistan and UNICEF have defined, as a priority for 2010, the implementation of a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) to measure progress towards these goals, providing data to specifically monitor the situation of children and women in Afghanistan.

The MICS process in Afghanistan is being implemented by the Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) with the technical and financial support of UNICEF.

The MICS is intended to strengthen national capacity in statistics by providing proper guidance on identification, collections and analysis of data that are of adequate quality and duly reflects the well being of children. Equally important in strengthening state statistics is the development of a set of indicators that reflect the well being of all children, especially those who are disadvantaged, adapted to the local context but within a global framework to allow for comparative analyses. Because the available sources of data are not sufficiently reliable, in some instances this poses some challenges.

MICS uses three modular questionnaires (Household, Women 15-49, and Children Under-5) that can be customized to fit the data needs of a country. Together, they help measure key indicators on the following topics included for Afghanistan:
      · Child mortality
      · Child health
      · Nutrition
      · Water and sanitation
      · Maternal and newborn health;
      · Child development;
      · Education and literacy
      · Child protection
      · AIDS (knowledge and attitudes)
      · Household characteristics

The fieldwork for data collection is planned for spring 2010.

Survey instruments, preliminary data, and reports will be posted on this website as they become available.