MICS For All

Swaziland and Nepal (Mid and Far Western Regions) Join the MICS Programme

2010-01-28T12:11:00.003-05:00

Swaziland and Nepal (Mid and Far Western Regions) are now confirmed to conduct surveys in 2010 as part of the MICS4 programme.

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MICS Compiler Launched

2009-11-21T13:22:00.000-05:00

The MICS Compiler was launched yesterday at UNICEF's Global Monitoring and Evaluation Consultation meeting in New York.

Click here (www.micscompiler.org) to access MICS Compiler.

As the name suggests, MICS Compiler compiles results from MICS surveys. Survey results become easily accessible to users through a user-friendly interface.

The indicators that are included in MICS Compiler use standard definitions for international comparability.

At present, MICS Compiler includes information from 26 MICS3 surveys, on 39 indicators. Users can produce tables and graphs using the information uploaded to the Compiler.

The compiler will be progressively populated with the remaining MICS3 countries and the remaining indicators that can be calculated by using MICS3 data sets. MICS4 survey results will also be included as they become available. During the second phase of the MICS Compiler development, mapping capability will also be introduced.

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UNICEF Global Consultation on Monitoring and Evaluation

2009-11-20T05:26:00.000-05:00

UNICEF's annual Global Consultation on Monitoring and Evaluation took place during 16-20 November, 2009, in New York.

The consultation normally takes place during the second quarter every year; this year, the meeting was postponed to November. The meeting is attended by Chiefs of Monitoring and Evaluation at UNICEF's Regional Offices, as well as a limited number of Monitoring and Evalation officers from selected country offices.

The last day of the meeting was devoted to monitoring, and included a two hour session on MICS. The presentation by Attila Hancioglu included an update on activities in 2009, and plans for 2010, followed by a lively discussion. One of the highlights of the day was the launch of the MICS Compiler.

The aforementioned presentation can be found here.

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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design Completed in Panama City

2009-11-16T13:51:00.002-05:00

Fourteen Latin American and Caribbean countries attended the Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design in Panama City, completed today. More information is posted here.

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Four More Surveys Join the MICS4 Programme

2009-11-06T01:24:00.003-05:00

Iraq, Sudan, Morocco, and Kazakhstan are now confirmed to conduct surveys as part of the MICS4 programme. All of these surveys are at present scheduled to start data collection in 2010.

The addition of these surveys brings the total number to 24.

Retired: Ngagne Diakhate

2009-11-06T00:50:00.003-05:00

Ngagne Diakhate, member of the New York MICS team in charge of data processing, has retired from UNICEF. Please find a post on Diakhate's retirement here.

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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design Completed in Amman

2009-11-05T01:20:00.002-05:00

The Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design for the countries of the Middle East and North Africa was completed in Amman. Please find more information here.

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Second MICS workshop for Francophone African countries completed

2009-11-03T16:10:00.003-05:00

The Regional MICS4 Workshop on Data Processing, which is the second workshop in the series of three workshops that will be conducted in each region, was completed on 29th October, in Dakar, for Francophone African countries. The workshop was attended by 7 countries. Find details here.

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Djibouti Will Carry Out MICS4 in 2010

2009-10-25T17:29:00.003-04:00

Djibouti will be carrying out a MICS4 survey in 2010, four years after MICS3.

The total number of confirmed MICS4 surveys now stands at 20.

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Togo To Conduct MICS4 in 2010

2009-10-22T13:18:00.002-04:00

Togo has joined the list of confirmed MICS4 surveys, bringing the total to 19 surveys. Data collection is scheduled for 2010.

The 19 surveys by year of data collection is now as follows:

2009 - 5 surveys
2010 - 13 surveys
2011 - 1 survey

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Mongolia and Pakistan (Baluchistan) Added To List of Confirmed MICS4 Surveys

2009-10-20T07:24:00.003-04:00

Two more surveys have been added to the list of confirmed MICS4 surveys. A national MICS survey will be conducted in Mongolia, while Pakistan will continue the province-level MICS surveys in Baluchistan, both in 2010.

See the full list of confirmed surveys here.

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Suriname To Carry Out MICS4 in 2010

2009-10-14T18:46:00.003-04:00

Suriname has been confirmed as the 16th survey to be conducted as part of the MICS4 programme.

Suriname conducted MICS2 and MICS3 surveys, in 2000 and 2006.

The full list of confirmed MICS4 surveys can be found here.

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Various Updates to MICS For All

2009-10-10T21:14:00.005-04:00

Recent updates to MICS For All include the following:
+ Presentations on MICS4 have been added to the "MICS4 Presentations" blog
+ MICStionary now has a new look, with an easier-to-use structure
+ Various uploads have been completed, such as the MICS film
+ The list of confirmed MICS4 surveys has been updated

Visit the MICS For All sub-blog pages for updates, and more

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New Staff Member Joins New York MICS Team

2009-10-05T06:48:00.003-04:00

New staff member, Christina Coury, has joined the New York MICS Team, as Programme Assistant. Please find Christina's profile here, at the "Global MICS Team" blog.

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Regional MICS Workshop in Nairobi Completed

2009-09-28T04:44:00.003-04:00

The Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design for Anglophone African countries was completed today in Nairobi. Please find more information here.

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MICS For All Re-Designed

2009-09-24T15:25:00.003-04:00

The MICS For All blog has been re-designed, in an effort to grant easier access to users, and to make better use of the blogging features.

From now on, news on new posts will be published here at this address, but the new posts will be published at their relevant sub-blogs, as shown on the right of your screen. The sub-blogs will serve as a repository of all documents relating to MICS surveys.

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MICS for Starters

2008-11-20T14:00:00.019-05:00

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, or MICS, is a global household survey programme supported and coordinated by UNICEF.

What is MICS?
Essentially, UNICEF provides technical and logistical assistance and funding to developing country governments to conduct MICS surveys - face to face interviews with household respondents, to collect data on topics related to children's and women's well-being, such as child and maternal health, nutrition, education, and HIV/AIDS.

Scientific sampling techniques are used to select the households where interviews are held, which means that the results are nationally representative.

Content
The content of MICS surveys is dictated by international commitments, UNICEF priorities, and country priorities in monitoring. For example, indicators of the Millennium Development Goals. Results are widely distributed through survey reports, and other means. The objective is to collect information on the situation of children and women, formulate and influence policy decisions - all for improving the well-being of children and women.

This blog site
This blog site is intended to fill an important gap - to provide formal as well as informal information on MICS surveys around the world. It is intended to play the role of an unofficial, informal forum to share information on MICS activities globally.

http://www.childinfo.org/ is the website where formal/official information on MICS is regularly posted.

The information, interpretations or conclusions expressed in the blog are entirely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the policies or views of UNICEF. Please post your comments on the posts. To do this, one simply needs to click on the title of the post, and write his/her comments.

The Cast
The way MICS works, in a nutshell, is as follows:

At UNICEF Headquarters in New York, is the New York MICS Team - responsible for coordinating global activities, producing standards, tools, templates, and provide technical assistance to governments, through the regional and country offices of UNICEF, by using easy-to-use survey tools, manuals, guidelines, methodological documents and the like, and by co-organizing regional workshops with UNICEF's Regional Offices that country teams attend.

At the Regional Offices of UNICEF (located in Dakar, Panama City, Amman, Geneva, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Nairobi), the Reginoal MICS Coordinators coordinate activities in their respective regions - mobilize human resources, coordinate the flow of funds, assist countries in survey decisions, provide technical assistance, and organize regional workshops in collaboration with the New York MICS Team.

Regional MICS Coordinators work closely with their supervisors, the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officers.

The New York MICS Team and the Regional MICS Coordinators form the Global MICS Team.

At the country level are the governments and UNICEF Country Offices. Governments are the owners of the surveys - usually, the National Statistical Office implements the survey. Steering Committees are formed, comprised of members from various sectoral ministries, and other international agencies and stakeholders. UNICEF Country Offices designate a MICS Focal Point, usually the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, who is the main contact person for the implementing agency in the UNICEF system. The main bulk of funding for the surveys comes from the UNICEF Country Office, although in many cases, other UN agencies, international agencies and bilateral agencies also contribute to funding the surveys.

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