Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)
Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is an international household survey program developed by UNICEF. The MICS survey is conducted to collect key indicators that are used to assess the situation of children and women. Over the past 20 years, the MICS project has evolved to meet changing data collection needs and has grown from 28 indicators in the first round to 200 indicators in the current sixth round, thus becoming a key source of data on child protection, pre-school education, and the main data source on child health and nutrition. As a data-collection tool for tracking the status of countries moving towards national goals and fulfilling global commitments to improve child well-being, MICS provides valuable information for monitoring both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) until 2030.
To date, the MICS project is well positioned to play a central role in the new data landscape of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development along with other key surveys in the field of demography, healthcare and socio-economics, as well as to complement the array data obtained from administrative sources and census results. MICS already covers some of the SDG indicators related to household functioning. After rigorous methodological processing and testing to expand the range of tools and to include new topics reflecting the SDGs and emerging issues in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in the sixth round MICS6 questionnaires will cover about 40% of household functioning indicators for the SDGs.
As the governments of individual countries begin to develop a national base to track the status of the SDGs and to determine baselines, there is a need for strategic planning and investment aimed at collecting meaningful, repeated and timely information. MICS 'new round opens up a unique opportunity to support this process.
MICS is used to monitor the progress of countries in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as in achieving the goals of the Declaration and Plan of Action “A World Fit for Children” and other international programs.
This survey is very important for understanding the situation of children and women in Kazakhstan, as it provides unique information for the development of national policies focused on children and for international positioning of the country. Based on the experience of achieving the MDGs, it is necessary to recognize the importance of MICS for the next generation of global development goals aimed at improving the lives of children by making decisions and promoting a fair and equitable approach.
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2006