Fiji Gears Up For First-Ever Nationwide MICS To Monitor Well-Being Of Women And Children

Today, UNICEF and the Fiji Bureau of Statistics signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) – Round 6, with pre-testing of the survey tools beginning next month, and implementation in the field starting early next year.

MICS is an international household survey developed and supported by UNICEF. It constitutes one of the world's largest sources of statistical information on children and women. It is internationally comparable data and is designed to help luminate trends over time.

The information gathered assists countries in filling data gaps for monitoring the status of national development plans and the global Sustainable Development Goals. Over the past 20 years, MICS has evolved to respond to the changing data needs, expanding from 28 indicators of issues pertaining to children and women in the first round to 200 indicators in the current sixth round.

The Fiji MICS, led by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, is funded by the Government of New Zealand, with additional financial and technical support provided by UNICEF and the United Nations Population Fund. The Pacific Community (SPC) will also provide support in the sample design and further data analysis.

“This is a much awaited survey for the Statistics Office. We are eager to conduct and collect the necessary data as source information to determine the well-being of our women and children,” said Fiji Bureau of Statistics Chief Executive, Kemueli Naiqama. “We look forward to this partnership to address data gaps that still exists in development areas and also align the country to the global agenda of ‘leaving no one behind’.”

The survey will generate data by each province with a rural and urban breakdown as well as frame the data from an equity perspective by highlighting disparities related to gender, region, geography, education, household wealth, and other characteristics.

This collaboration comes at a time when access to data on national priority areas is essential for decision making during outbreaks of infectious diseases including the COVID-19 pandemic.

The survey will collect data on health, nutrition, child protection, education, learning skills of children, early childhood development, water, sanitation and hygiene among other topics. This will help in monitoring the progress towards national goals including the COVID-19 preparedness and response plan.

“We are proud to be supporting the Fiji Bureau of Statistics, along with our partners, in implementing Fiji’s first-ever nationwide MICS,” said UNICEF Pacific Representative, Sheldon Yett. “We will work together to ensure that accurate data is available to assist with informed decision making by the government, key stakeholders, as well as development partners. This will provide critical support for children, their families and those who are most in need.”

Fiji is the fifth country in the Pacific region to conduct this round of MICS. Kiribati, Tonga, Samoa and Tuvalu have also conducted the survey since 2018.

About the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS):

MICS is an international household survey programme developed and supported by UNICEF. Since its inception in 1995, MICS has become the largest source of statistically sound and internationally comparable data on women and children worldwide.

For more information: http://mics.unicef.org/

About the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBoS):

FBoS, as the implementing agency, will continue to collect, provide reliable, timely and relevant statistics through greater engagement with the providers and users of data. We work on producing statistics that are easily understood and useful to a wide range of users. Improved access by having more data available on our website, will lead to greater usage and appreciation of statistics. The demand for detail grows with the increasing complexity of Fiji's economic transactions. With evidence based planning now a requirement for our development partners, we as the organization providing the evidence will continue to face major challenges. The assistance and cooperation of all our stakeholders will ensure that we continue to improve on our service delivery.

About UNICEF:
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

For more information about UNICEF Pacific and its work for children, follow UNICEF Pacific on Twitter and Facebook

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