Regional Monitoring of Child and Family Well-Being: Unicef's Monee Project in CEE and this CIS in a Comparative Perspective [antikvár]

Abstract The paper outlines the goals, organization and methodology of one of the most authoritative attempts to monitor the situation of children and women in countries imdergoing rapid social and economic change. UNICEF's "Public Policies and Social Conditions: Monitoring the Transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States", known as the MONEE project, has been gathering and sharing data on the situation since 1992. The project, through a series of reports on child and family well-being, has had a remarkable impact on policy makers, academics, politicians and members of the public. One of the keys to its success has been the comprehensive set of demographic and social indicators and related policy and institutional information collected via a wide network of experts. By drawing a comparison with similar analytical efforts, this paper highlights the distinctive features of the project, including a holistic and regional perspective based on a systematic mix of statistical and analytical investigations. This approach offers some comparative advantages relative to UNICEF's global surveys and national situation analyses in terms of its capacity to grasp key patterns of change and the role of institutional factors. While proposing a greater role for regional monitoring in development work, the paper envisages that similar efforts will not always take the same path. It concludes, however, that the MONEE project also provides valuable lessons for social monitoring in other countries and regions. Key words: Regional monitoring; Social indicators. Child poverty; Child rights. Transition; International comparisons. 1. Introduction The collapse of communism and the introduction of market reforms in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has provoked a great deal of descriptive and analytical effort by the international community. Sudden and drastic changes have affected every part of human life, making it vital to assess the needs for external assistance, the strength or weakness of domestic traditions in social and economic analysis, and the urgent need to reform - or even create - institutions, policies and information systems. This paper focuses on an initiative from UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. The initiative - "Public Policies and Social Conditions: Monitoring the Transition in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States", better known as the MONEE project, represents a major effort on the part of an international organization to monitor the impact of social and economic changes on women and children. The main goal of the project is to help ensure that the interests of children and