A POLICY BRIEF on the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), which provides up-to-date information on children and women, is to be prepared by yearend.
This disclosure came today from Acting Director of the Barbados Statistical Service, Aubrey Browne, who said the policy brief would be circulated to policymakers and members of the public so they could use the MICS data to make evidence-based decisions. He was speaking to the Barbados Government Information Service shortly after the official opening of a two-day policy development workshop at the Baobab Tower.
Browne stated: “The MIC Survey is a fairly extensive document, so the policy brief would be like an executive summary, where the main issues are summarised, so attention could be focused on them. We want to disseminate the information from the MICS report as widely as possible, so that the maximum use can be made of it.”
He added that a child-friendly version of the report would be developed, so it could be presented to children.
The MICS, an international household survey programme developed by UNICEF, was conducted in Barbados in 2012 by the Barbados Statistical Service as part of the fourth global round of MIC surveys. Financial and technical support was provided by UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund, and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.
This survey also measures key indicators that allow countries to monitor progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed-upon commitments.
Browne explained that the MICS covers some of the data gaps in Barbados, so information is now available on a number of areas, such as child health, development, labour and discipline, hygiene of the household, and women’s reproductive concerns.
The MICS Report is available on the UNICEF website. (BGIS)
