For the millions of kids living in orphanages and foster care in India, you would assume we have metrics on their living conditions. The data would be useful in visualizing progress, evaluating government policy, and measuring NGO impact. Anyone seeking to improve those conditions would need that data to make informed decisions.

But when we started looking, we couldn’t find the data.

What we’re looking for.

We wanted to understand living conditions at orphanages. I started looking for any data about:

Availability of material resources: Nutrition, Educational resources, Health and hygiene. Spending per child. Support from NGOs, private donors, and the state.

The data I’m seeking answers some of the most basic questions one could ask, given the topic of kids in orphanages and foster care: How well are they fed? How well are they educated? What level of healthcare do they have access to?

In addition to those, I’m seeking financial data: What is spent per child? And what fraction of this support is from the state, as opposed to private donors or NGOs?

This isn’t an exhaustive list. I’m interested in any kind of data that can be used to gauge living conditions.

Is this reasonable to ask for? I think so.

What we found.

Nearly nothing.

We searched Google, and some sites specifically — NGOs, and organizations that maintain statistics. We found:

Lists. Plain lists of institutions. Demographic data and general statistics. Case studies (which were pretty depressing)

You can read more about the search here: https://medium.com/needs-network/the-search-for-living-conditions-data-88d5fd8f850f

We didn’t find the living standards metrics we needed. The case studies came close. They used the kind of metrics we expected, but were limited to a single institution or a small geographical area.

What we expected to find.

Jumping into this, I expected to find metrics of this sort:

Nutrition: Calorie intake. Protein intake. Malnutrition and deficiencies. Availability of drinking water. Growth standards.

Calorie intake. Protein intake. Malnutrition and deficiencies. Availability of drinking water. Growth standards. Education: Availability of books. Language proficiency. Enrollment. Access to school and teachers.

Availability of books. Language proficiency. Enrollment. Access to school and teachers. Healthcare and Hygiene: Immunization. OTCs. First-Aid availability and training. Clean water. Hygienic practices. Disease stats.

Again, this isn’t an exhaustive list. We’d be happy with other indicators of living standards.

Most of these are metrics that are maintained for the population in general. But surprisingly, we can’t find metrics specific to orphans and children in foster care.

Should someone be concerned?

If it’s true that there’s no data about living conditions at orphanages, it’s worth worrying about. But who exactly should worry about it?

I began my search with an assumption that a government agency or one of the numerous NGOs would have that data, and to find and utilize it would be trivial.

If I were to ask someone the question “what’s the nutrition available to the average child in an orphanage or Foster Care?”, they’d probably assume this information would be available in a dataset organized by a government agency, the UN, or an NGO. They’d also assume it would be possible to find it with a Google search.

But the data doesn’t seem to exist, even though people assume it does. Without this data, how can the outcomes of government policy, NGO action, and innovation be quantitatively measured?

What now?

I’m not sure.

For one, it’s possible I made mistakes in trying to search for the data. And while the need for the data seems self-evident to me, it’s possible I’m missing something.

Help?

If you find something, you can DM me on twitter (@itsarnavb), email us (needsnetwork@pm.me), or leave a response.