ESCWA holds the 12th session of its Statistical Committee on 4 and 5 April 2017, at the UN House, Beirut. The meeting will launch the first Gender Statistics Toolkit and eLearning module.
 
The session opens at 10:00 AM on Tuesday 4 April 2017.
 
Main topics of discussion include the role of official statistics in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the Arab region; the statistical capacity development in ESCWA member States; the proposed programme of work for the biennium 2018-2019 in the field of statistics; and the meeting outcomes of consultative committees in economic and social statistics, in addition to other items as set up in the proposed agenda.
 
Participants in the session include heads of national statistical offices in ESCWA Member States, national technical focal points and experts interested in the topics set out in the agenda.
 
Gender Statistics
Following the opening of the 12th session will be the launch of the Arabic-language first gender statistics toolkit for eLearning. The toolkit was put together as part of the “Interregional Cooperation to Strengthen National Capacities to Measure Progress in Achieving. Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment” project. The aim of this project is to strengthen the capacity of relevant national institutions in Arab countries to improve the quality of their data and relevant statistics to monitor progress in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.
 
Workshop
ESCWA and the United Nations Statistical Commission are also jointly organizing a workshop on “The Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator Framework,” on 5 and 6 April 2017 at the UN House in Beirut.
 
The overall objective of the workshop is to reflect on the preparation of national indicator frameworks based on national, regional and global priorities, on the roadmaps for the development of a clear set of strategies to strengthen national statistical systems and their deliveries in line with the Global Action Plan, and the reporting systems in support of the Agenda 2030.
Participants in the workshop are Directors General of national statistics offices, senior national SDG partners, senior statisticians, and representatives of global, regional and sub-regional organizations, and partner institutions.
 
About the Statistical Committee
The Statistical Committee was established pursuant to Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) resolution 179 (XVI) on setting up a statistical committee within ESCWA, endorsed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council in its resolution 1993/2 of 2 February 1993.  The Committee was established to follow up on progress achieved by member States in developing their statistical systems; provide them with technical advice; propose training programmes and organize workshops and seminars to enhance their statistical capacity; assist them in standardizing national statistics to ensure their comparability at the regional and international levels; coordinate the exchange of statistical data and information between member States and the United Nations Statistical Commission; and coordinate the statistical programmes of member States, especially in matters relating to surveys and censuses. The Statistical Committee holds its sessions biennially.