29
June
2007
The "Third Arab Statistical Forum" was organized by Paris 21* in cooperation with the Statistics Division in UN-ESCWA and the League of Arab States (LAS). It was entitled "Towards a new prospect of Arab statistical systems". It was hosted by Sana’a, Yemen from 17 to 19 April 2007 to follow up on the outcomes of the first two forums (Jordan, September 2003 and Oman, September 2005) and to explore future potential partnership and cooperation between statistical offices; national, regional, and international donors; and the key users and stakeholders.
The Forum aimed at assessing the progress made since the first two forums and learning about challenges of implementation of case studies, sharing experience and knowledge, enhancing the concept of statistics for development and achieving the MDG s through developing national strategies for the development of statistics (NSDS), enhancing and encouraging effective participation of donors at the national, regional, and international levels in designing, preparing and financing the implementation of National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDSs), exploring the future perspectives to enhance statistical systems in the Arab region, identifying Arab region views and contribution to the Second World Forum on Statistics, knowledge, and Policy.
UN-ESCWA contributed in the Forum through two presentations. The first was on lessons Learned from the Study on Needs Assessment for Capacity-Building of the National Statistical Offices in ESCWA Region was delivered by Ms. Neda Jafar, Statistician from the Statistics Division. In addition, the Officer-in-Charge of the Statistics Division, Mr. Giovanni Savio, opened the third day that was allotted for the Round Table discussion on the Millennium Development Goals and the preparation for regional workshop in the Arab region.
A set of recommendations emanated from the Third Arab Forum focusing on joint activities between ESCWA, Paris 21, World Bank and LAS with regard to development of national statistical strategies, ESCWA leading the participation of Arab countries in the Accelerated Data Programme and International Household Survey Network, and an organization of future joint activities and workshops.
* Established in November 1999 in response to the UN Economic and Social Council resolution on the goals of the UN Conference on Development, the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) was launched to act as a catalyst for promoting a culture of evidence-based policymaking and monitoring in all countries, and especially in developing countries http://www.paris21.org