Signing of MoU between Statistical Service and UNICEF completes the first milestone
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Ghana Country Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to conduct the 2025 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) on Wednesday 10th July in Accra. The survey will be the fifth MICS to be conducted in Ghana.
The 2025 MICS will provide data on a wide range of topics including child protection, early childhood education, child health and nutrition, and maternal health.Other topics are rapid water quality testing, social transfers, foundational learning skills of children 7-14 years, child and adult functioning, migration status, use of clean fuels and technology, and victimisation. The 2025 MICS includes new topics such as mental health, food insecurity experiences, children’s time use and youth not-in-education, employment or training (NEET).
In all, the 2025 MICS will produce data on 267 indicators including 33 indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and data for decision-making and for monitoring progress towards achieving other national and international development agendas and policy targets. The statistics generated will be comparable across countries and over time to specifically monitor the well-being of children and women in Ghana.
The signing of the MoU marks the commencement of the implementation of the survey. The MoU covers a three-year period that includes preparatory activities, data collection, data analysis, and dissemination of findings. Preparatory activities for data collection, which include stakeholder engagements, customisation of survey instruments, and translation of questionnaires, will continue for the rest of 2024. Listing of households exercise will be carried out in the first quarter of 2025 and the Main data collection in selected households, is scheduled for the third quarter of 2025.
The Statistical Service will implement the MICS in Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Health/Ghana Health Service, the Ministry of Local Government Decentralisation and Rural Development, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, the National Development Planning Commission, the Ghana Water Resource Commission and the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources with technical support from UNICEF. A National Steering Committee will have strategic oversight of the implementation and a Technical Advisory Committee will provide guidance on technical decisions and processes.
Reports and microdata from previous MICS can be downloaded from https://mics.unicef.org/. For more information on the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey programme visit https://mics.unicef.org/.
About the Ghana Statistical Service
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) provides comprehensive, reliable, quality, relevant, accurate and timely statistical information to guide national development as stipulated in Section 3 of the Statistical Service Act, 2019 (Act 1003). The organisation’s vision is to be a trusted provider of official statistics for good governance and its mission being the efficient collection, production, management, and dissemination of quality official statistics based on international standards, using competent and motivated staff for evidence-based decision-making, in support of national development.
The Statistical Service produces monthly and quarterly data on important economic indicators such as inflation, Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index, and Gross Domestic Product. GSS also regularly generates periodic population, housing, demographic and economic data at the locality, district, and national levels from routine surveys and censuses. The statistics generated by GSS can be utilised by a wide cross-section of users including public sector, businesses, academia, civil society organisations and development partners. For more information visit www.statsghana.gov.gh.
