The MICS results indicate progress in a number of areas
The MICS research, which was conducted by the Statistical Office of Montenegro in 2018, clearly highlights the areas in which further work is needed.
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PODGORICA, 28 June 2019 – The percentage of children under the age of two years who were breastfed during the first hour after birth increased from 20% to 41% in the Roma population and from 14% to 24% in the general population. This is just one of the key findings from the Research of Multiple Indicators (MICS) reflecting the status of children and families in Montenegro conducted in 2018. The indicators show that progress has been made in certain areas compared to the previous iteration of this survey conducted in 2013, but also point to areas in which further efforts are needed, such as the further increase in the breastfeeding rate in our country.
The UNICEF Representative to Montenegro, Mr Osama Khogali, congratulated Montenegro on the fact that it is the first country in the Balkans to have implemented the new global cycle of MICS and praised Montenegro for the continuing progress it has made towards the realisation of the rights of the child. He also reminded of the areas that still need more work.
The 2018 MICS did not show any progress in terms of domestic violence against children compared to the situation of five years ago. Approximately two-thirds of children aged 1–14 years remain exposed to at least one form of psychological or physical punishing by their parents. This data tells us that it is necessary to change the social norms related to raising children and to lower the threshold of tolerance towards violent disciplining of children and all other forms of violence.
The Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy and the Financial System, Mr Milutin Simović, said that this survey had identified progress in 20 sustainable development indicators.
We are particularly pleased with the increase in the number of children attending the preschool education programme from 40% to 53%, which has been recorded in the past five years. An even more significant increase was recorded in the north, where the coverage has doubled and has risen from 17% to 37%.
A large number of young people took part in the MICS data collection process. UNICEF's volunteer young reporter Nađa Lalović was particularly interested in the contribution of young people in collecting data for MICS.
Ms Gordana Radojević, director of the Statistical Office of Montenegro, said that she was proud and satisfied with the participation of a large number of young people in the MICS survey and that MONSTAT, in cooperation with UNICEF, had also organized training for young surveyors.
We trained them in the application of international methodology, and our experience has shown that we had a broad group of participants with different education profiles... Having this in mind, we formed a group of young researchers who can potentially deal not only with statistics but also with various analyses and research in general.
Belma Muratović, a young participant in the MICS, says she learned a lot about how the survey is conducted and how a range of instruments is used in the process.
I would highlight teamwork as the greatest value.
Her colleague, Agim Gaš, shared his own wonderful experiences from the fieldwork and training programme. At the same time, he is surprised by the information about education in Roma settlements.
To be honest, I expected better percentages when it comes to the levels of education in Roma settlements. I do hope that these percentages will be higher in the future and that these results will encourage the Roma population to understand the importance of education.
The MICS research, which was conducted by the Statistical Office of Montenegro in 2018, with the technical assistance of UNICEF and the financial support of the Government of Montenegro, UNICEF and UNHCR, clearly highlights the areas in which further work is needed, primarily work that relates to early childhood development, child protection, education, health and life in a clean environment
This is the largest survey after the census, which, with the support of UNICEF, is implemented worldwide every five years to collect statistically reliable and internationally comparable data on a range of indicators in the fields of health, education, child protection and HIV/AIDS.
The last MICS in Montenegro was conducted in 2013.
