Leaving no Child Behind: The importance of reliable data on children and inequities in the SDG era Lori Bell Regional Advisor Monitoring and Evaluation UNICEF Regional Office for ECA EuroStat MGSC, March 2017

Selected Recent Examples of UNICEF Cooperation in Statistics Support NSOs to conduct Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) Methodological work and training of NSOs – new Washington Group modules on functioning (disability), early childhood development, etc. Support Govts in for SDG indicator selection (50 related to children), data gap analysis and establishment of baselines. Systems strengthening for MIS/administrative data systems strengthening e.g. E-EMIS (Turkey), E-HMIS (Georgia), etc. and regional monitoring (TransMonEE) New disability modules for adults and children will allow for more reliable disaggregate of data on social statistics by disability status – better monitoring of equity gap reduction. Initial data gap analysis for main indicators for children, based on the global SDG database, shows important challenges to SDG tracking. Tremendous potential for better sectoral statistics through the use of E systems for example monitoring in real time learning outcomes in the education sector. Where there are important data gaps, household surveys may be useful. In Feb 2017, 60 statisticians from NSOs in ECA participated in a MICS household survey design workhop in Tbilssi , Georgia.

Sustainable Development Goals The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 169 targets were identified through a large inter-governmental process.

Population below poverty line Indicator Tier Custodian Other Agencies Population below poverty line I National governments UNICEF World Bank Men, women, children living in multidimensional poverty II Stunting WHO Wasting/Overweight Skilled birth attendance WHO, UNFPA Under-5 Mortality UN Population Division Neonatal Mortality Coverage of tracer interventions III UNICEF, UNFPA, Fully immunized children WHO- UNICEF Early childhood development UNESCO, OECD Preschool attendance UNESCO Sexual violence against women and girls, by intimate partner UN Women UNFPA WHO UNSD UNDP UNICEF is the custodian agency for 10 indicators Joint custodian for 7 indicators UNICEF is also indicated as one of the additional agencies working with the custodian agency, for another 5 indicators

Safely managed sanitation and handwashing Indicator Tier Custodian Other Agencies Sexual violence against women and girls, by person other than intimate partner II UNICEF, UN Women UNFPA, WHO UNSD Early marriage I UNICEF WHO, UNFPA, UNWomen UN Population Division FGM/C UNFPA, WHO Safely managed water UNICEF, WHO UNEP Safely managed sanitation and handwashing Child labour ILO, UNICEF   Child discipline UNDP Sexual violence against children UNSD, UNDP, UNODC Birth registration UNSD, UNICEF UNFPA, UN Population Division

50 indicators have been identified as directly relevant to children Report on availability of data, and disaggregation Data availability for over half of indicators either limited or poor Disaggregated data even less available for indicators relevant to children. https://data.unicef.org/resources/every-child-counted-status-data-children-sdgs/

SDGs for Children: Baseline Data Availability for Selected Indicators in the ECA Region Source: SDG Database. Green >75% of countries have data on this indicator, yellow >50%, red <50% and grey indicates no country has data on this indicators (source: SDG database)

Regional SDG baseline data availability: …continued

48 percent 230 Global SDG indicators around 30 percent can be generated by household surveys Out of all household survey based SDG indicators 48 percent are covered by a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in its entirety or partially Data gaps will be filled by both improved administrative data systems and customized household surveys. Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys can be a useful tool for filling data gaps on children and beyond – including for many indicators that UNICEF is not custodian for.

Topics Covered in Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys In the last 10 years, 13 countries in CEE/CIS completed a MICS survey – with 19 surveys in total including the Roma surveys. The most recent in ECA were Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, completed in 2016. A dozen countries in the ECA region have already committed to a MICS in 2018/19 – including several specific surveys in Roma populations. MICS are owned by NSOs with UNICEF providing technical support. MICS data provides standardized, comparable data and can be conducted at national level or on sub-populations.

Survey Coverage Analysis Covered in MICS not in EU LFS/SILC Birth registration Early childhood development (Violent) Child Discipline [1-4], [5-14] Child functioning/disability [2-4], [5-17] Breastfeeding and Dietary Intake [0-2] Immunization [0-2] Care of Illness Anthropometry Child Labour [5-17] Parental Involvement [7-14] Foundational Learning Skills [7-14] Covered in EU LFS/SILC not in MICS Activity and Inactivity Employment and Unemployment Income Distribution and Monetary Poverty Work Intensity Environment of the dwelling UNICEF is exploring the possibilities for including some additional questions from the SFS and SILC questionnaires in the next round. MICS will allow for disaggregation by the following variables: Regions, administrative units Residence (urban, urban-poor, rural) Gender Age Education Wealth Ethnicity/religion/language Migration status Disability status others Partially/different definition Subjective well being Material Deprivation Housing Conditions Health and Labour Conditions

UNICEF Support at Country Level UNICEF staff in 25 countries across the ECA region providing ongoing support for data generation, analysis and dissemination. Promotion of cross-learning between countries (annual meetings of social statistics experts and TransMonEE database). UNICEF comparative advantage lies not only in its expertise on the issue of child indicators and data gathering tools and methods – but also in its presence and capacity at country level – to support not only strengthening of NSO capacities but also those of key line Ministries who collect social statistics.

MICS Survey Data on Children and Inequities in Serbia Household surveys such as MICS so far offer the best solution for generating nationally representative data that can be disaggregated to show achievements towards the reduction of equity gaps. This is an example from the most recent MICS surveys in Serbia that examined equity gaps associated with geography, urban/rural, incomee, mothers education, gender of the child and ethnicity.

Administrative Data on Children on the Move in Greece (Migration) Administrative data sources can offer data for real-time monitoring and decision-making. This is an example of UNICEF support to the national government agency responsible for vulnerable children in Greece – which is producing data on a monthly basis on the numbers and locations of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children in the country. UNICEF is receiving financial support from EU/DG Justice for this technical assitance. UNICEF convenes an annual meeting of social statisticians. This year the TransMonEE meeting will be held on the topic of data on children: ethnicity, nationality and migration – to discuss challenges and good practices on this topic. We hope that this may inform the new global guidance on refugee statistics currently under development.

Leaving no Child Behind Reliable Data on Children Thank you! The recent EuroStat 2016 donor survey demonstrates that UNICEF is an important partner to NSOs in the production of social statistics. Through the EuroStat MGSC, CES and other mechanisms, we seek to work collaboratively with other agencies to maximize the synergies and impacts of investments being made to strengthen data for monitoring progress and adjust actions for children in ECA and beyond.