ESARO/Global MICS4 Mop-up Workshop on Data Processing, Nairobi, 22 February-6 March 2010

Today the ESARO/Global MICS4 Mop-up Workshop on Data Processing came to a close in Nairobi, Kenya, for countries from around the world planning MICS fieldwork during the the first half of 2010.

The workshop began on February 22 and was organised at the Jacaranda Hotel, Nairobi, by UNICEF ESARO. The workshop was attended by data processing experts from the implementing agencies of 7 countries (number of participants in parentheses): Mongolia (3), Mozambique (1), Nepal (1), Somalia (3), North and Sudan (3 and 2), Suriname (2), Swaziland (2). Data processing experts from two regional offices also attended: MENARO (1) and ESARO (2).

The main facilitators of the workshop were Ivana Bjelic (MICS Data Processing Expert), Alexandar Zoric (Consultant), and Turgay Unalan (Statistics Specialist). The workshop included three main components: Data entry and editing with CSPro, preparation of analysis files and Introduction to SPSS and tabulations with SPSS, and survey archiving with the IHSN toolkit.

Bo Pedersen (ESARO MICS Coordinator), Jaychandaran Vasudevan (Consultant), Pierre Martel (Consultant), Yadigar Coskun (Consultant), and Rajesh Sharma (Consultant) also participated and supported the facilitation of sessions. Dorothy Rozga (Deputy Regional Director, ESARO) and Philip Jespersen (Regional M&E Advisor, ESARO) delivered the welcome and introduction speeches on data processing tools and the importance of quality and timely data to which capacity building through the MICS Workshops are key.

Sessions and discussions were delivered in English. At the end of the workshop, participants were presented certificates of attendance. Participants were data processing experts from MICS4 implementing agencies, and came to the workshop with almost-final versions of their questionnaires. Upon return to their countries, country teams are expected to be able to customize standard MICS4 data entry and editing programs in CSPro, to prepare analysis data files and adopt tabulation syntax in SPSS and customise the survey archive using IHSN toolkit.

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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design - Panama City, 10-16 November 2009

The last Regional MICS4 Workshop of 2009 was completed today in Panama City. Teams from 14 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean attended this workshop, on survey design. The workshop was organized by the UNICEF TACRO Regional Office, and took place at the Bristol Hotel, during 10-16 November 2009.

37 participants from 14 countries attended the workshop:
Argentina (2), Belize (3), Costa Rica (2), Cuba (3), Dominican Republic (2), El Salvador (3), Guyana (1), Jamaica (4), Panama (8), Paraguay (1), Peru (1), Suriname (3), Trinidad and Tobago (3), Uruguay (1).
Figures in parentheses indicate the numbers of participants from each country.

Bernt Aasen (UNICEF TACRO Regional Director) and Tessa Wardlaw (UNICEF New York, Chief of Statistics and Monitoring Sction) jointly opened the workshop. Facilitating the workshop sessions were:

Daniel Ferrante (Consultant - Household Surveys)
Danzhen You (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
David Megill (Consultant - Sampling)
Holly Newby (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Ivana Bjelic (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
Luis Ochoa (Consultant - Household Surveys)
Oliver Petrovic (Early Childhood Development Section, UNICEF New York)
Shane M. Khan (UNICEF TACRO Regional MICS Coordinator)
Tessa Wardlaw (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Turgay Unalan (UNICEF New York MICS Team)

Bastiaan Van't Hoff (UNICEF TACRO Monitoring and Evaluation Officer) and Attila Hancioglu (Global MICS Coordinator) were also attendance and contributed to the sessions. Enrique Delamonica, Regional Adviser on Social Policy, and Christine Norton, Regional Adviser on Adolescents and Youth, both from UNICEF TACRO, facilitated two sessions on their areas of expertise. Karoline Schmid, Social Policy Officer from UN-ECLAC presented on MDG monitoring in the Caribbean.

The 6-day workshop concluded with the country survey presentations on the last day. Participants received certificates of attendance from Aida Oliver (UNICEF TACRO Regional Chief of Planning) and Attila Hancioglu during the closing ceremony.


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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design - Amman, 24-30 October 2009

The Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design for the countries of the Middle East and North Africa was organized in Amman, Jordan, by the UNICEF MENA Regional Office. The workshop took place at Grand Hyatt Hotel, during 24-30 October 2009.

37 participants from 12 countries attended the workshop. Countries attending were (with numbers of participants in parentheses):

Algeria (1), United Arab Emirates (2), Saudi Arabia (2), Iraq (4), Jordan (4), Morocco (2), Occupied Palestinian Territory (4), Sudan (6), Syria (3), Tunisia (2), and Yemen (3).

The Kazakhstan team from the CEECIS region also attended the workshop, with 4 participants.

The workshop was opened by Marilena Viviani (UNICEF MENARO Deputy Regional Director), Pierre Ngom (UNICEF MENARO Regional Chief of Monitoring and Evaluation), and Attila Hancioglu (Global MICS Coordinator).

Almost all of the sessions were facilitated by (in alphabetical order):

Attila Hancioglu (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
David Megill (Consultant - Sampling)
Emma Holmberg (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
Holly Newby (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Oliver Petrovic (Early Childhood Development Section, UNICEF New York)
Samir Farid (Consultant – Household Surveys)
Sarah Ahmad Mirza (UNICEF MENARO MICS Coordinator)
Turgay Unalan (UNICEF New York MICS Team)

Also in attendance were Edmond Harfouche from the Central Administration for Statistics, Lebanon who facilitated a session on the use of PDAs in the Lebanese MICS survey, and Toby Wicks from the Emergency Section of UNICEF MENARO, who facilitated a session on the use of GPS. Pierre Ngom (UNICEF MENARO Regional Chief of Monitoring and Evaluation), Mohammed Mahmoudi and Nayef Abed (Sampling consultants), and Vicente Teran (UNICEF MENARO Programme Officer) also attended and actively contributed to the discussions.

Organization and logistics of the workshop was handled by the Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS).

The workshop was completed in 6 days. As with all other workshops, country teams presented their survey plans and intentions on the last day of the workshop. Participants received certificates of attendance from Hasmik Egian (UNICEF MENARO Regional Chief of Programme and Planning) and Attila Hancioglu during the closing ceremony.


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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Data Processing - Dakar, 16-29 October, 2009

The second Regional MICS4 Workshop on Data Processing was organized in Dakar (Senegal), for the countries of West and Central Africa region.

The workshop began on October 16th and concluded on October 29th. Organized at the Hotel Méridien Président by UNICEF WCARO, the workshop was attended by data processing experts from 7 countries (with numbers of participants in parentheses): Cameroon (1), Central African Republic (2), Chad (2), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2), Gambia (1), Mali (3) and Senegal (3).

The main facilitators of the workshop were Ivana Bjelic (MICS Data Processing Expert) and Trevor Croft (Consultant), and included three main components: Data entry and editing with CSPro, preparation of analysis files and tabulations with SPSS, and survey archiving with the IHSN toolkit.

Harouna Koche (Consultant) and Zacharie Sanou (Consultant) also participated and supported the facilitation of sessions. Michele Seroussi (Regional MICS Coordinator) attended selected workshop sessions. Martin Mba (Chief of the Division of Informatics and Data Bases, National Institute of Statistics, Cameroon) delivered a presentation on positive practices in survey archiving and took an active part in working groups.

Sessions and discussions were delivered in English and French, and simultaneously translated. At the end of the workshop, participants were presented certificates of attendance.

The participants were data processing experts from MICS4 implementing agencies, and came to the workshop with almost-final versions of their questionnaires. Upon return to their countries, country teams are expected to be able to customize standard MICS4 data entry and editing programs in CSPro, to prepare analysis data files and adopt tabulation syntax in SPSS and customize the survey archive using IHSN toolkit.


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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design - Nairobi, 23-30 September 2009

The Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design for Anglophone African countries was organized in Nairobi, Kenya, by the UNICEF ESARO Regional Office, at the Holiday Inn, during 23-30 September 2009.

The workshop was attended by 17 countries. The majority of the countries were from the Eastern and Southern Africa region. Five Francophone countries from Western and Central Africa also attended.

Countries attending were (with numbers of participants in parentheses):

ESARO:
Burundi (2), Eritrea (2), Ethiopia (3), Kenya (3), Lesotho (1), Rwanda (1), Somalia (3), South Africa (1), Swaziland (4), Tanzania (3), Zambia (2), Zimbabwe (3)

WCARO:
Ghana (1), Sierra Leone (3), Liberia (3), The Gambia (3), Nigeria (4).

Forty-two participants represented 17 countries. Nineteen participants were UNICEF staff members from country offices. Facilitators were (in alphabetical order):

Attila Hancioglu (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
Augustine Botwe (Consultant)
Bo Pedersen (Regional MICS Coordinator, UNICEF ESARO)
David Megill (Consultant - Sampling)
Holly Newby (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Jayachandran Vasudevan (Consultant)
Michele Seroussi (Regional MICS Coordinator, UNICEF WCARO)
Oliver Petrovic (Early Childhood Development Section, UNICEF New York)
Pierre Martel (Consultant)
Priscilla Akwara (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Turgay Unalan (UNICEF New York MICS Team)

UNICEF ESARO staff members also attended the majority or a selection of sessions: Philip Jespersen (ESARO Chief of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation), Jan Rielaender (Monitoring and Evaluation Officer), Vincenzo Vinci (ESARO P,M&E Section) and Peter Hailey (Nutrition Specialist, ESARO). Regional Advisors were present in sessions relevant to their work. Peter Hailey co-facilitated sessions on anthropometry with Grainne Moloney from FSNAU.

As with the Bamako workshop, the DHS programme was represented, this time by Paul Ametepi, delivering a presentation on MICS-DHS collaboration and co-facilitating an open discussion.

The workshop was opened by Elhadj As Sy (ESARO Regional Director) and Attila Hancioglu (Global MICS Coordinator).

The workshop was extended to seven days, from it's 6 days duration. On the last day, country teams presented their country survey plans. At the end of the workshop, participants received certificates of attendance during the closing ceremony.

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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Data Processing - Bangkok, 7-19 September, 2009

The first regional MICS4 workshop on data processing has just been completed in Bangkok, for the countries of South Asia, East Asia and Pacific regions.

The workshop began on September 7th and concluded on September 19th. Organized at the Landmark Hotel by APSSC, the workshop was attended by data processing experts from 5 countries (with numbers of participants in parentheses): Afghanistan (3), Bhutan (3), DPRKorea (3), Myanmar (2), and Pakistan (3).

The workshop was mainly facilitated by Ivana Bjelic (MICS Data Processing Expert) and Sherell Goggin (Consultant), and included three main components: Data entry and editing with CSPro, secondary editing and tabulations with SPSS, and survey archiving with the IHSN toolkit. Turgay Unalan (MICS Household Survey Specialist) and Attila Hancioglu (Global MICS Coordinator) also coordinated sessions, mainly those on SPSS.

Rhiannon James (Regional MICS Specialist) was in attendance throughout. Mokhles Rahman (Consultant) also participated and supported the facilitation of sessions.

The Regional MICS4 Data Processing Workshop is the second workshop organized in each region, after having countries attend the first workshop on Survey Design. Expected to attend to this workshop are data processing experts from MICS4 implementing agencies, with finalized questionnaires. The workshop is not about a comprehensive teaching of CSPro or SPSS, but is, rather modestly, about getting the participants understand how they need to adopt the standard CSPro data entry and editing, and SPSS secondary editing and tabulation programs to their country surveys, in accordance with their questionnaires.

The next regional MICS4 workshop on data processing is scheduled to take place in Dakar, during the second half of October 2009.


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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design - Bamako, 27 July-3 August 2009

The Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design for Francophone African countries was organized in Bamako (Mali), by the UNICEF WCARO Regional Office, hosted by UNICEF Mali, at the Hotel Salam, 27 July - 3 August 2009.

The workshop was attended by 20 countries. The majority of the countries were from the Western and Central African Region. Two countries from the Middle East and North Africa Region, and two countries from the Eastern and Southern Africa Region also attended (with numbers of participants in parentheses):

WCARO: Benin (4), Burkina Faso (2), Cameroun (4), Central African Republic (3), Chad (5), Congo (3), DR Congo (5), Cote d'Ivorie (2), Gabon (4), Guinea (2), Guinea-Bissau (4), Mali (13), Mauritania (3), Niger (2), Senegal (3), Togo (4)
ESARO: Comoros (3), Rwanda (1)
MENARO: Djibouti (3), Morocco (1)

In total, 70 participants represented 20 countries. The majority of sessions and discussions were delivered in French and simultaneously translated to English. For the few facilitators who did not speak French, translation from English to French was done.

Facilitators were (in alphabetical order):
Attila Hancioglu (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
Danielle Burke (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Julien Amegandjin (Consultant - Sampling)
Michka Seroussi (Regional MICS Coordinator, UNICEF WCARO)
Priscilla Akwara (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Robert Johnston (Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF WCARO)
Tinga Sinare (Consultant - Household surveys)
Trevor Croft (Consultant - Household surveys)

Several of the participating countries were planning Demographic and Health Surveys. Soumaila Mariko represented the DHS programme, took an active part in working groups, delivered a presentation on biomarkers in household surveys.

The workshop was opened by Attila Hancioglu, Deborah McWhinney (Deputy Representative, UNICEF Mali), and a Representative from the Ministry of Health in Mali.

Content was very similar to the previous workshop in Bangkok, with the exception that the workshop was extended to seven days. At the end of the workshop, participants were presented certificates of attendance. An additional session was organized after the workshop hours, with attendance of participants on a voluntary basis, on interagency mortality estimates. The session was facilitated by Attila Hancioglu.

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Regional MICS4 Workshop on Survey Design - Bangkok, 15-21 July 2009

Regional MICS4 Workshops kicked off with the "Survey Design" workshop in Bangkok, at the Nai Lert Park Hotel, 15-21 July 2009.

Organized by UNICEF APSSC, the workshop was attended by 13 countries (with numbers of attendees indicated in parentheses) from the South Asia, East Asia and Pacific regions (in alphabetical order):

Afghanistan (4), Bangladesh (3), Bhutan (6), DPRKorea (1), Lao PDR (5), Malaysia (2), Mongolia (3), Myanmar (4), Nepal (4), Pakistan (10), Philippines (3), Thailand (11), Vietnam (3)

In total, 59 participants representing 13 countries were present, plus 12 observers who attended selected sessions.

The main facilitators of the workshop were (in alphabetical order):

Attila Hancioglu (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
David Megill (Consultant – Sampling)
Emma Holmberg (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
Holly Newby (Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Ivana Bjelic (UNICEF New York MICS Team)
Kerry Richter (Consultant – Household Surveys)
Magdalena Janus (Consultant – Early Childhood Development)
Oliver Petrovic (Early Childhood Development Section, UNICEF New York)
Rhiannon James (Regional MICS Coordinator, UNICEF APSSC)
Muhammad Shuaib (Consultant – Household Surveys)
Tessa Wardlaw (Chief, Statistics and Monitoring Section, UNICEF New York)
Turgay Unalan (UNICEF New York MICS Team)

In addition, France Begin (Nutrition Adviser, APSSC) co-facilitated sessions on anthropometry.

The workshop was opened by Tessa Wardlaw, Jirawan Boonperm (Deputy Director General, Thailand National Statistical Office), Peter Delahaye (Deputy Regional Director, APSSC), and Anupama Rao Singh (Regional Director, UNICEF EAPRO).

Sessions included introductory presentations to MICS4 survey tools and methodology, demonstrations (anthropometry and salt testing), presentations of country survey plans by participating countries, and working group sessions. Selected countries also presented their past experience with conducting MICSs surveys. During the closing ceremony, certificates of attendance were presented to participants, together with soft copies of all workshop documents, on flash drives especially designed for the MICS programme.


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Regional MICS4 Workshops - About To Begin

The Regional MICS Workshops, a major feature of the MICS programme, are due to begin in July, 2009. The first workshop will be held in Bangkok.

In MICS4, three workshops will be organized in each region. The first workshop will be on "Survey Design", where country teams (comprised of the country survey coordinator, the country sampling expert, and the UNICEF focal point) will be attending. Countries that have decided to carry out a MICS survey, as well as those undecided, will be invited. The workshop will be a general introduction to every aspect of MICS implementation and coordination, including the introduction to survey tools (questionnaires), governance issues, sampling, training, fieldwork, data processing and archiving. Sampling will receive special attention, since an international sampling expert will be present to assist countries in drafting their sample designs.

This will be followed by a second workshop, this time on "Data Processing". Countries that have decided to carry out a MICS survey will be attending, with two data processing experts. The workshop will be devoted to training country teams on how to modify the standard MICS data entry and editing programs (in CSPro) to correspond to their questionnaires, adopt standard tabulation programs (in SPSS), and learn the basic about survey archiving. Countries at two different stages of implementation may be attending: Preferably, those that have not started fieldwork but have final or near-final questionnaires (so that they can use the data entry programmes simultaneously during fieldwork), and those few countries that have completed MICS3 fieldwork but may be seeking assistance on tabulations.

A third and final workshop will be organized around the themes of Reporting, Archiving, Dissemination, and Further Analysis (full name of the workshop will be decided later). To this workshop, countries that have completed their final reports or are close to completion will be invited. In other words, countries will come with their draft final reports and data sets, and other materials that have been already produced. The first of these workshops is not expected until the third quarter of 2010.

The 3-workshop plan assumes that between the second and third workshops, after the completion of fieldwork, countries will travel to Regional Offices to finalize their tabulations and/or finalize survey reports. These can be in the form of mini-workshops, since it may be possible to invite more than one country at a time to the regional office.


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