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 undergoing 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.