UNICEF Egypt gathered information on child and family wellbeing in the context of COVID-19 during a lockdown through conducting surveys by phone for the first time. Four repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted over the period of eight months. Results guided the response by UNICEF, other UN partners, and the Government of Egypt (GoE).
UNICEF contracted a nationally respected research firm to provide technical expertise in phone-based surveys. The Real Time Monitoring (RTM) surveys covered a nationally representative randomized sample of 1,500 families every other month over eight months and included a small sample of refugee families. UNICEF regularly shared summary findings with the GoE and key partners and provided additional findings upon request. As a result, the GoE, development partners and other stakeholders were equipped with timely information about children and families during COVID-19 to guide the response over time.