The Solomon Islands National Statistics Office (SINSO), in partnership with UNICEF, has launched a comprehensive three-week training of trainers and pre-test program.
This intensive workshop is a critical step in preparing for the country’s inaugural Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), scheduled for 2026.
The MICS is a globally recognized household survey tool, developed by UNICEF in 1995. It has since become the world’s largest source of statistically sound and internationally comparable data on the well-being of children and women.
For Solomon Islands, participating in MICS for the first time represents a significant milestone in its ability to produce high-quality data that can be compared with over 100 other countries globally.
Officially opening the workshop, the Government Statistician, Mr. Samson Kanamoli, underscored the training’s vital importance, highlighting three key objectives:
- Building a Solid Foundation: “First, we are establishing the baseline for a survey of significant scale and complexity. If the foundation laid here in this training is weak, the entire structure of the survey is at risk.”
- Ensuring Uncompromising Quality: “Secondly, this is about quality assurance. You are responsible for ensuring that fieldworkers fully understand the questions, strictly follow the protocols, and treat every respondent with the utmost respect.”
- Strengthening National Capacity: “Thirdly, this process is about strengthening our national capacity in data collection, processing, and analysis, leaving a lasting legacy of expertise within SINSO.”
The participants in this training are experienced supervisors and enumerators, drawn from recent large-scale national exercises, including the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) and the National Economic and Establishment Census (NEEC).
Over the next three weeks, these teams will immerse themselves in the MICS methodology. They will master the digital tools and protocols essential for ensuring that every piece of data collected is accurate, reliable, and meets the stringent standards required for international comparability. The subsequent pre-test will allow them to apply these skills in the field, refining the survey process before the main data collection begins in 2026. – SINSO
