The seventh round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS 7), a globally reaching project, will arrive in more than 120 Avilanian households before the end of March. This research aims to generate reliable statistics that portray the reality of girls, boys, women and men in Cuba, thus offering a precise measurement of development and well-being in all its dimensions.
The particular nature of this research in the Avilanian province lies both in its scope and in the youthful profile of its surveyors. At just 21 years old, Marlon Lázaro León Pérez personifies this feature: he is one of the professionals visiting homes, specifically tasked with administering the questionnaires aimed at the male population.
Youth participation responds to a clear purpose: to include the new generations in the construction of the projects that, from today, will determine the public policies of the coming years and will serve as a roadmap for the country.
Conducted in collaboration with UNICEF in more than 120 countries, the MICS surveys are a fundamental tool for updating data on childhood and adolescence, evaluating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and improving public policy planning.
For Wacner Fernández Cristian, provincial director of ONEI in Ciego de Ávila, the project transcends data collection: «It is a tool that measures people’s well-being. Its main contribution will be to underpin national social policy upon its completion, while also providing us with a parameter to compare ourselves and evaluate our performance within the region.»
Furthermore, these surveys provide key data on the country’s demographic dynamics, including household composition, levels of overcrowding, family structure by age and educational level, as well as other fundamental socio-demographic indicators.
The collected data, each questionnaire, measurement, and processed sample will be transformed into strategic information that will feed into international reports on the rights of Cuban children and adolescents, while also laying the foundations for designing social programmes that respond to the real needs of families. (Author: Ortelio González Martínez)
