Vital for Malaysia to address data gaps, says Unicef

Unicef says effective use of data can help it track which children are thriving and which are left behind. (Unicef pic)

PETALING JAYA: The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said it is critical for Malaysia to take further steps to address persistent data gaps despite the progress the country has made in making high-quality data on children available.

Unicef’s Malaysia representative Marianne Clark-Hattingh said this includes strengthening national survey frameworks and administrative data management systems on the wellbeing of children.

Clark-Hattingh said limited availability of high-quality data on children’s wellbeing and access to services impedes the development and evaluation of public policies and risks undermining the achievement of national development objectives, especially those relating to the B40.

“On the other hand, 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.

“Effective use of data can help us not only track results for children but also shape those results with better insights about what’s working, what’s not, which children are thriving and which are being left behind,” she said in a statement issued in conjunction with National Statistics Day.

Clark-Hattingh said addressing these gaps is vital in view of the Sustainable Development Goals agenda of “leaving no one behind”, and Putrajaya’s recently launched Shared Prosperity vision.

She said that Unicef assists countries in collecting and analysing data to fill data gaps for monitoring the situation of children and women, including through theMultiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) mechanism.

This global survey mechanism, she said, will address many of the data gaps in the country’s existing national statistical system and is highly recommended for adoption during the 12th Malaysia Plan implementation period.

Other priorities include aligning a range of Malaysia’s national surveys and reporting frameworks with international best practice and improving the availability of key public datasets to academicians, civil society and public policy analysts to strengthen “public policy dialogue, transparency and accountability for results”.

“Bold actions in these areas would surely make critical contribution to the achievement of Malaysia’s national development and Shared Prosperity vision and position the country as a global trail-blazer in the adoption of a results-based approach to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals,” Clark-Hattingh said. - FMT