Attachments
Background
Guidance for the Integrated Data Ecosystem Assessment and Strengthening (IDEAS) Tool
The international community is facing a serious dearth on data on migrant and forcibly displaced children. Few data are disaggregated by age, sex or country of origin, let alone according to more specific information such as education level or access to services. And even where data are available, they are often fragmented and disconnected, and not shared between stakeholders. The lack of and disintegration of data hamper efforts to protect children and ensure their development.
Against the background of the general data scarcity on and the high vulnerability of migrant and forcibly displaced children and migrants and displaced populations more generally, the international community included migration-relevant targets in the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 and adopted the Global Compacts for Migration and Refugees (GCM and GCR) in 2018.
UNICEF, IOM, UNHCR, UNSD and UNESCAP have developed the current project on strengthening national data capacities to support countries to live up to their commitment to operationalize GCM and GCR in the context of the Agenda 2030.
Objective
The objective of the joint project is to comprehensively map existing data, identify gaps and good practices in national data capacities, and provide recommendations on how to sustainably enhance the collection, analysis and use of high-quality, timely and disaggregated data on children on the move at country level.
Based on the data and knowledge gaps in countries of implementation, the project further aims to identify key indicators on migrant and forcibly displaced children to report against, according to national priorities, in light of the 2030 Agenda as well as GCM and GCR processes related, and in line with international standards and recommendations.
The ultimate goal is for countries to strengthen data systems and provide and use better evidence to guide decision-making to meet the needs of vulnerable migrant and forcibly displaced children.
Implementation of the Integrated Data Ecosystem Assessment and Strengthening (IDEAS) Tool
To implement the project, national statistical offices as well as relevant line ministries will collaborate with UN agencies to map and strengthen national data capacities on migrant and forcibly displaced children. For the purpose of mapping existing data and identifying data and knowledge gaps, the current Assessment Toolkit has been developed. The toolkit consists of a general questionnaire that focuses on overall data collection, sharing and hosting. In addition, the toolkit also entails several area-specific modules on themes particularly relevant to migrant and forcibly displaced children, including access to services, detention, child protection, and education.
To be able to most precisely identify which data are collected and available, the area-specific modules entail key indicators on points crucial to migrant and forcibly displaced children. It is important to note that the toolkit does not intend to collect the specific statistical data to these indicators. Instead, the toolkit aims to map the underlying data available to report against the indicators.
For the implementation, an interviewer will go through the questionnaires with relevant nationallevel focal points of collaboration partners, including national statistical offices, line ministries and other key stakeholders, who will fill in the general module and a module pertinent to their field of work. The presence of the interviewer will allow for questions to be clarified and follow-up questions to be posed.
Based on the questionnaires filled in by key stakeholders, a general package of recommendations and suggestions to strengthen national data capacities will be developed and presented along with a road map for follow-up actions such as trainings and technical support.