Govt to conduct survey to set sustainable development goals

LAHORE

Punjab Finance Minister Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha has said provincial government in collaboration with the Unicef Pakistan will conduct a Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) by using the MICS six methodology at tehsil level with the larger indicators in upcoming year 2017.

This MICS will also provide baseline for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for monitoring the reporting indicators in the Punjab province.

She expressed these views while addressing the launching ceremony of “Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) Report Punjab 2014” jointly organised by the Bureau of Statistics P&D and Unicef on Tuesday at Lahore. The MICS report, based on a district level survey capturing socio-economic indicators particularly focusing on children and women, has been put together by the BOS, P&D and Punjab with technical support from the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Finance Minister said MICS’s objective was to collect statistically sound and internationally comparable data essential for developing evidence based policies and programmes for monitoring the progress towards global, national and provincial goals. The MICS 2014 was the result of devoted efforts of different provincial departments and organisations. The Punjab government also provided major funding for the survey through the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and a moderate contribution by the Unicef was also valued. The Chairman P&D Punjab, who headed the provincial steering committee, extended his fullest kind support throughout the process, she added.

Ayesha Pasha disclosed that the Punjab Growth Strategy was very important and vital for further development in the province. The government has to act quickly and needs close collaboration with the citizens. The MICS Punjab 2014 was also based on data collected in 2014 from more than 41,000 households using MICS five methodology, which covered 125 socio-economic indicators. Three separate questionnaires, household, women and children were used for evidence. Punjab needs evidence based policy by providing all the resources to collect data. Punjab showed an improvement in 56 indicators while the progress on other 36 indicators has either slightly decreased or remained unchanged. About 25 new indicators provided district baseline to monitor the performance in future. In 2015, 300 surveys have been conducted in 108 countries. These surveys have helped generate reliable data based on key indicators for the wellbeing of children and women to help shape policies for improving their lives, she concluded.

Addressing the ceremony, Punjab Chairman P&D Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan said the Punjab government along with the national and international partners was committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) vis-à-vis education, health, water supply, sanitation and poverty sectors. It will require not only provision of adequate resources but also a very robust system for ascertaining the area-specific needs, efficient use of resources and regular monitoring of the results and impacts.

The first district based MICS was conducted in 2003-04 while second and third round of MICS took place in 2007-08 and 2011. The MICS Punjab 2014 was a district based survey covering 125 indicators and was the largest on this account. The result of MICS Punjab 2014 will enable the Punjab government to measure te progress made on key social indicators. It also provided a baseline for a number of new social indicators which were not covered earlier. All the rounds of the MICS permitted the provincial and district governments to monitor their respective status of human and social development with precise data on variety of key indicators. It will also assist the decision-makers to move towards the new avenues of human and social development.

UNICEF Pakistan senior representative Angeela karnay said these surveys will be most imperative tools in determining the government budgetary outlays, particularly for the social sector. Besides many international papers, various students have completed their MPhil and PhD theses by using the MICS data. Punjab P&D, Unicef and other stakeholders at provincial and district levels richly deserve all the credit for coming up with an excellent report.