Presenters:
Lauren Pandolfelli, Statistics & Monitoring Specialist, Data & Analytics Section, UNICEF
Eva Quintana, Statistics Specialist, Data & Analytics Section, UNICEF
Abstract:
Since the mid-1990s, UNICEF has supported governments to collect and analyze data on children and adolescents through the Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys (MICS) Programme. Over the years, MICS has continuously evolved to respond to changing data needs, including the growing demand for gender data to report against global and regional monitoring frameworks. These include the UN Minimum Set of Gender Indicators and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda Indicator Framework, as well as the call for more granular data to better identify which women and girls are being left behind.
Now in its seventh round (2023-2026), MICS has introduced several new modules that will help to close crucial gender data gaps, covering indicators on intimate partner violence, reproductive autonomy, time use and adolescents not in education, employment, nor training.
This presentation will highlight select modules and indicators, discuss the important role key stakeholders can play in advocating for their inclusion in country surveys and spotlight key aspects of MICS that make it a singular source of data for gender analysis in support of policies and programs that drive results for women and children.
Bios
Lauren Pandolfelli is a Statistics Specialist in the Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring at UNICEF, where she leads and coordinates the division’s work to improve the quality, analysis and availability of gender data on women and children. Previously, she developed methodological guidance on measuring asset ownership and entrepreneurship from a gender perspective under the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality project at the United Nations Statistics Division. She holds a doctorate in sociology and a master’s degree in international development.
Eva Quintana is a Statistics Specialist and Survey Methodologist with UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) programme in the Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring at UNICEF. Her expertise covers design and implementation of household surveys, development and testing of questionnaires, data collection methods and research ethics. Eva came to UNICEF in 2015 from Columbia University, where she was involved in the evaluation of an integrated approach to rural development across ten research sites in Sub-Saharan Africa. In that capacity, she developed protocols and coordinated collection and analysis of household survey data (spanning socio-demographic, health, agriculture, and consumption and expenditures surveys) and facility-based surveys. Prior to joining this initiative in 2008, she worked with Oxfam for eight years. Eva holds master’s degrees in research methods and in international development, both from Columbia University.