The most recent statistics related to child mortality, reproductive health, child health, early childhood education and child functioning as well as a host of details on the status of women and families in Trinidad and Tobago are now available via the first ever mobile application and virtual Datanett Portal for the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey or MICS in Trinidad and Tobago.
The MICS is the largest household survey completed since the last population and housing census in 2011. By accessing www.datanett.info citizens, government agencies, NGOs, civil society organisations and more will be electronically connected to this vast reserve of high quality, robust MICS data facilitating informed decision-making, project development and other activities that can assist in the area of human development in Trinidad and Tobago. The app is available via Google Play and Apple App stores making access to the MICS data available any and everywhere.
Planning and Development Minister Pennelope Beckles said the purpose of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey was to provide insights on key indicators to enable countries such as Trinidad and Tobago to generate evidence-based data for use in national policies and programmes. The Minister added that in the case of Trinidad and Tobago, it will assist us in keeping track of our National Development Strategy Vision 2030 and its alignment with the global Sustainable Development Goals, helping to drive the common universal principle of leaving no one behind.
Joanna Kazana, the UN Resident Coordinator stated that UNICEF, acting as the main UN authority on women and children’s surveys provided extensive technical support to the Central Statistical Office in studying the key characteristics of households in Trinidad and Tobago. Ms. Kazana also mentioned that the Global Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) programme was developed by UNICEF in the mid-1990s as a multipurpose household survey-based intervention. Thus providing support to countries in collecting internationally comparable data on a wide range of indicators on the situation of children and women.
Mr. Andre Blanchard, Director of Statistics said the CSO has been making progress and launching this app was a success story informing decision-making when it comes to two key groups in the country.
Visit www.datanett.info for the survey report and for access to download the mobile application.