By Sue-Ann Wayow
A HOUSEHOLD survey to provide comprehensive data on the situation with women and children is to be undertaken soon.
The survey will be conducted by the Central Statistical Office (CSO).
In a media release on Tuesday, the Ministry of Planning and Development announced that the field practice exercises and one pilot exercise will be undertaken on July 20, 21 and 22 as well as on July 26 in preparation for the upcoming Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).
The survey is expected to begin at the end of July and conclude in November of this year.
“The MICS is a household survey implemented by countries under a programme developed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide internationally comparable, statistically rigorous data on the situation of women and children. Once completed, this CSO implemented survey will have some of the most comprehensive data on the status of women and children in Trinidad and Tobago,” the ministry stated.
The practice exercises and pilot are part of a five-week training programme for officers conducted by the CSO which began on June 27.
For the exercises, field staff will go around in pairs requesting from residents the opportunity to test the water that a household usually drinks.
This will be randomly done, based on the consent of the household.
The field staff will be carrying water quality testing equipment in bags and will conduct the tests at the randomly selected household.
For the exercises, Water Quality Consultants will observe the testers in real-life settings to ensure what was taught in the training sessions is fully grasped, the release stated.
On July 20, the field practice will take place in Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain with 10 interviewers testing water quality, 10 supervisors assisting and four observers.
On July 21 in St Ann’s, ten interviewers will be testing water quality with two observers.
And on July 22, all field staff inclusive of 35 interviewers, 10 supervisors and 10 water quality and six observers will be in areas in Diego Martin, Trincity, Arima and Chaguanas.
For this aspect of the practice exercise, field staff will go around in pairs conducting interviews. This will be randomly done, based on consent of households. The field officers will use paper questionnaires as well as tablets on which to capture the data, the ministry stated.
The MICS pilot takes place will involve the same number of individuals from the field practices who are all CSO field staff.
The locations planned for that session are: Charlieville, Jerningham Junction, Blue Basin, Cocoyea Village, St Joseph Village, El Socorro, Aranguez, Curepe and Tunapuna.
The ministry is informing the population that all field staff will be dressed in light blue T-shirts for identification purposes and caps that have the CSO logo, MICS logo and UNICEF logos.
They will be in smaller teams of four or five people, visiting every 10th household in the enumeration district.
The field staff will also have tablets, bags and umbrellas, visiting households, testing drinking water and interviewing members of households.
The ministry stated, “This will be the final opportunity for the field staff to get comfortable with every element of survey work, map reading and location, interviewing and sending completed data to supervisors in preparation for the actual fieldwork related to the MICS that begins on July 29 2022.”
The Planning and Development Ministry is also assuring the population that all information collected during the exercises will follow strict confidentiality protocols and will not be shared outside of the exercise.
The CSO encourages all citizens in the areas mentioned to participate in the exercise and citizens can contact the CSO at 624-7001 if there are any queries or concerns.
