Date and Venue
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) is organizing in cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Statistics and Ministry Planning and International Cooperation a Study Visit for the Gender Statistics Unit of the Iraqi Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology (COSIT) during the 7-8 November 2007.
Background Information
The study visit is convened under the project for "the Development of National Gender Statistics in Iraq," that is being implemented by ESCWA in cooperation with the Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology (COSIT) and other UN agencies with funding from the United Nations Development Group Iraq Trust Fund. The study visit to the Department of Statistics and Ministry Planning and International Cooperation is held back to back with a Workshop on Gender Statistics and Time-Use Survey (Amman, 4-6 November 2007).
The project targets producers and users of statistics from government bodies, NGOs, research centres and academia from throughout Iraq to raise awareness on the importance of gender statistics in policy formulation and to improve national capacities to produce, analyze and use quality gender-sensitive indicators.
The project includes a number of capacity building activities, preparation of gender-based statistical outputs, and the establishment of a full-fledged Gender Statistics Unit.
To date, two capacity building activities have been implemented. The joint ESCWA-UNICEF MENARO regional training on the DevInfo version 5.0 (Cairo, 18-22 September) trained two national statisticians on the new features and tools of the "Users" and "Database administration" interfaces. Additional information on the Regional DevInfo 5.0 Workshop can be accessed at http://www.escwa.un.org/divisions/scu/events/18sept06.html.
The First National Workshop on Gender Statistics (Amman, 11-13 December 2006) trained 24 producers and users of statistics on the identification of gender issues; identification of needed gender statistics and indicators, their sources and quality; and the presentation and dissemination of data in a user-friendly way. A common list of priority gender issues and corresponding statistics and indicators was adopted and will serve as the basis of upcoming project activities, including the preparation of a statistical publication on women and men in Iraq. Documentation on the workshop can be accessed at http://www.escwa.un.org/divisions/scu/events/1113Dec06.asp.
Cairo, Egypt
