By Aisha Tamba
The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) has recently held a press conference for the upcoming Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey(MICS), a household survey developed by the UNICEF to assist countries in filling data gaps for monitoring the situation of families and households especially children and women.
Information sent collected on men, women and children are used by the government and development partners for planning monitoring and service delivery.
The Gambia Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with UNICEF and the National Nutrition Agency (NANA) will be conducting the survey to measure our achievements towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
GBoS urged the public to take the activity seriously as this will reduce the non response rate and is expected to last 70 days.
Speaking at the gathering, statistician general, Nyakassi M.B. Sanyang stated that the survey is a key source of data on women and child protection, early childhood education.
He said the survey will generate data for monitoring the progress towards national goals and global commitments aimed at promoting the welfare of women and children.
For her part, representative of UNICEF, Sandra Lattof, said UNICEF is collaborating with other development partners in supporting the Gambia government in conducting the survey.
She said the survey will provide the needed information to guide the national development plan.
She urged people to be open to the team of surveyors who spent weeks to get the the necessary training for the survey.
“I am urging people to give them all the maximum support required in gathering this information. I strongly encourage everyone in the government at national level, division level, district level and the local government, local NGOs, communities and civil society in order to sensitise the Gambian population,” she said.
