ESCWA's Information and Communication Technology Division and Statistics Division joined forces to organize a training workshop on the "ESCWA Statistical Information System (ESIS)," an application that facilitates statistical data exchange between the Commission and its member countries.

The workshop was held from 8 to 10 December at the UN House in Beirut, it provided a theoretical and intensive hands-on training on the ESIS for participants from the central statistics offices of Palestine, Sudan and Yemen. Trainees were given an overview of the system, its requirements and modules. They also worked on methodologies for data collection, management and dissemination.

The concepts detailed in the workshop were applied to environmental statistics and information and communication technology modules. The ESIS is a bilingual (Arabic/English) database driven, desktop application developed and maintained in house by ESCWA. It builds member countries' capacities in compiling data and deriving indicators. The ESIS web component increases data accessibility for researchers, decision makers and a wide range of users.