Statistics and monitoring

Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)

The Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (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.
Background
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. Since the initiation of the programme, nearly 200 surveys have been implemented in approximately 100 countries. The latest round of surveys (MICS3) is generating data representative of close to one in four children living in developing countries.
Monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Almost half of the MDG indicators are collected through MICS, making it one of the largest single sources of data for MDG monitoring. For MICS3, which began in 2005, UNICEF added several new indicators to track progress toward the MDGs and other major international commitments.
Content

MICS uses three modular questionnaires that can be customized to fit the data needs of a country. Together, they help measure key indicators on the following topics:

Nutrition: nutritional status, breastfeeding, salt iodization, vitamin A, low birth weight; child mortality*; child health: immunization, tetanus toxoid, care of illness, solid fuel use, malaria, source and cost of supplies; environment: water and sanitation, security of tenure and durability of housing; reproductive health: contraception and unmet need, maternal and newborn health, maternal mortality; child development*; education*: literacy; child protection: birth registration, child labour, child discipline, early marriage and polygyny, female genital mutilation/cutting, domestic violence, disability and; on AIDS, sexual behaviour, and orphaned and vulnerable children: knowledge and attitudes, sexual behaviour, support to orphaned and vulnerable children.

*These categories cover topics under the same heading name.
Coordination of Data Collection

UNICEF makes every effort to harmonize MICS—and the indicators mea¬sured—with other similar household survey projects, in particular the USAID-supported Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) programme. This level of coordination ensures maximum coverage, analysis of trends over time, and comparability across projects while guaranteeing the acqui¬sition of most of the indicators needed to monitor the situation of children and women locally and globally.
Implementation and Capacity Building

MICS are typically carried out by government organizations, with the technical support and financial assistance of UNICEF and its partners. UNICEF provides technical support and training through a series of regional workshops covering questionnaire content, sampling and survey implementation, data processing, data quality and data analysis, and report writing, data archiving, and dissemination. Under MICS3, more than 300 experts from developing countries were trained worldwide.
Dissemination and Use

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/)