Series Information
In 1998, UNICEF embarked on a process of helping countries assess progress for children at end-decade in relation to the World Summit for Children goals (New York, 1990).
Indicators
The list of global indicators being used to assess progress at end-decade was developed through extensive consultation, both within UNICEF, particularly with Programme Division and the Regional Offices, and with WHO, UNESCO and the ILO. The global indicator list can be found in Annex 1 of the Executive Directive EXD/1999-03 dated 23 April 1999.
Mid decade experience
There are numerous sources of data for measuring progress at country level, but many either do not function well enough to give current and quality data, or do not provide the data required for assessing progress. Household surveys are capable of filling many of these data gaps. The mid-decade assessment led to 100 countries collecting data using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), household surveys developed to obtain specific mid-decade data, or via MICS questionnaire modules carried by other surveys. By 1996, 60 developing countries had carried out stand-alone MICS, and another 40 had incorporated some of the MICS modules into other surveys. The mid-decade questionnaire and manual, the countries where a standalone MICS was implemented.
The end-decade assessment
The end-decade MICS questionnaire and manual have been developed specifically to obtain the data for 63 of the 75 end-decade indicators. These draw heavily on experiences with the mid-decade MICS and the subsequent MICS evaluation. The content is organized into question modules, for countries to adopt or omit according to the data already available. The development of the end-decade MICS questionnaire and manual has drawn on an even wider spread of organizations than the mid-decade MICS. They include WHO, UNESCO, ILO, UNAIDS, the United Nations Statistical Division, CDC Atlanta, MEASURE (USAID), Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and others.
Abstract
The 2000 Guinea-Bissau Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is a nationally representative survey of households, women, and children. The main objectives of the survey are to provide up-to-date information for assessing the situation of children and women in Guinea-Bissau at the end of the decade and to furnish data needed for monitoring progress toward goals established at the World Summit for Children and as a basis for future action. MICS in Guinea-Bissau represents a mayor effort to provide updated information on social sectors after the war, which broke out in June 1998. It is also the mayor survey undertaken in the country after the Household Survey undertaken in 1991 and the MICS of 1996 whose results were not made available officially. MICS 2000 also represents a mayor effort to cover new areas related to the Convention of the Rights of Children, for which no information was available in the country. This is a first report on a number of indicators to compare the actual situation with the documentation prepared at the beginning of the decade. More in depth analysis of MICS information is planned next year to fully utilise MICS information through specialised studies.
