UNICEF work on data for children is based on a simple premise: We believe that smart demand, supply and use of data drives better results for children. When the right data are in the right hands at the right time, decisions can be better informed, more equitable, and more likely to protect children’s rights.
This framework focuses on data for and about children: the well-being and perspectives of children and their families, the environments in which they live, and the ways that services and systems reach – or fail to reach – them. For more than four decades, UNICEF has supported governments in generating, analysing and using many different forms of data related to these issues. All of these forms – from longstanding and statistically robust household survey programmes to government administrative data and new forms of community feedback mechanisms – are within the scope of the framework.
The idea behind the strategic framework is not to build a perfect world that can address any unforeseen data need; rather, it lays out a general approach to data for children work and a plan for addressing our existing needs, while giving us the flexibility to adapt as our needs evolve.
