UNICEF Belize Launches MICS Report

The partnership between UNICEF and the Statistical Institute of Belize to gather comparable data on women and children using a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey has been valuable in understanding their everyday circumstances.  MICS, as it is known, has also been useful in providing government with information that can be used to create policies that are in line with the Millennium Development Goals, as well as serve as baseline for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals. This year, the MICS looked at the additional challenges facing Belizean children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alison Parker

Alison Parker, UNICEF Country Rep, Belize

“Belize is the first country to pilot the MICS Plus model and this was done in collaboration with the UNICEF global MICS team together with the Statistical Institute of Belize and key line ministries impacting on the wellbeing of children.  MICS Plus is an innovation that shows how real-time data is critical to being responsive to ever changing realities of families and children.  It uses representative sub samples of data from MICS surveys as baselines to continue collecting data via mobile phone over a period of time at frequent intervals.”

Tanya Santos Neal

Tanya Santos Neal, C.E.O., Ministry of Human Development

“You can imagine that given our current context this innovation is timely and facilitates the gathering of data when movement of people is restricted and impeded by national health regulations.  But even in times of a pandemic, there remains the need to have insights into how families are coping and how best we can help them fulfill their responsibilities to children.  It is for this reason today that I join in lauding the MICS Plus pilot as an important policy tool and thank UNICEF Belize for providing this support to enable us to meet the commitments we have made to the Belizean families.”