Vulnerable children missing from data

World Data Forum session 

Watch the session on the World Data Forum’s website from Monday 12 October

Join the live Q&A discussion on Thursday 15 October at 14:00 BST / 15:00 CEST

 

The world has united around the pledge to ‘leave no one behind’, yet for many children this is not a reality, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Vulnerable groups of children, such as those who are internally displaced, street-connected, living with disabilities, or in care institutions, have become even more hidden and invisible, and are largely out of reach from data collection and service provision, leaving them even more vulnerable.

Although the circumstances of their lives are very different, these children are united insofar as standard data collection methods, such as household surveys, fail to reach them. The lack of reliable quantitative and qualitative information on them means that not enough is known to make informed policy decisions to improve their lives or to measure the impact of interventions, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of the pandemic, this means they are not considered in policies designed to halt the spread of the virus or distribute relief to vulnerable groups.

 

The objectives of this session will be:

1. Draw attention to the exclusion of vulnerable groups of children from data and the implications of this exclusion in the context of COVID-19.
2. Share potential or ongoing initiatives to improve data on these groups.

 

The presentations cover:

• Internally displaced children and using demographic models to disaggregate data (Christelle Cazabat, IDMC)
• Street children and tailored quantitative and qualitative data collection methods (Lizet Vlamings, CSC)
• Children in alternative care or institutions (Chris Cuthbert, Lumos Foundation).

The presentations will be followed by Q&A with the audience (moderated by Kate Richards, GPSDD).