Description: The Group of Experts on Social Protection Reform (GESPR) in the Arab region is organizing its eighth meeting following the conclusion of the second Arab Forum on Equality and the 14th session of the Committee on Social Development. The meeting is aimed at addressing key policy reform options to extend social insurance coverage to the “missing middle”, i.e., those who are not eligible for social assistance benefits and are not in formal salaried employment. It is also an opportunity to familiarize GESPR members with the latest tools developed by ESCWA to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of social assistance programmes, as well as to present a forward-looking modality and scope of work to achieve more inclusive and integrated outcomes.
Description: ESCWA is organizing the fifth meeting of the technical advisory group on demographic and social statistics in Arab countries. This meeting aims to: Review and discuss the ESCWA work programme, “Supporting the Promotion and Modernization of Demographic and Social Statistics in Arab Countries” Present the available data for basic demographic and social indicators in the Arab countries, discuss tools for capturing data on these indicators and formulate solutions to bridge the data gap Discuss the availability of labour force statistics and sources of such data, national good practices in data collection and dissemination and existing challenges facing national statistical offices in providing such data Present a summary of the ESCWA initiative on collecting data on the middle class in the Arab region Review the regional strategic framework for civil registration and vital statistics.
Description: This is the latest in a series of workshops held since 2017, which aims to: * Develop the capabilities of national statistical offices to collect and publish accurate and comparable disability statistics from household censuses and surveys. * Enhance understanding of concepts, definitions and methodologies so as to produce consistent data aligned with regional and international standards. * Discuss the development of stand-alone surveys to reach a consensus for a regional module. * Share good practices in producing disability statistics in the region and related challenges in data analysis.
Description: The workshopprovided an overview of the concept of social expenditure and presents the ESCWA framework of Social Expenditure Monitor (SEM). The discussions focused on its usefulness and application to potential budget and policy reforms in the context of improving allocative efficiency and effectiveness of budgeting toward achieving the SDGs. In the workshop sessions, discussions around relevance of budget data for the SEM, mapping dimensions and indicators of SEM into national budgets, identifying challenges and possibilities of filling data gaps took place. In addition, feedback from participants on tailoring and implementing the SEM in each national context was provided.
Description: The ninth meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs), will be held from 25 to 28 March 2019 in Beirut, Lebanon. The meeting will be hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. This meeting will follow the same format as the previous IAEG-SDG meeting. There will be a Members meeting taking place during the first day (25 March) and a Plenary Session taking place during the following three days (26 - 28 March). During the plenary session, all countries, international and regional agencies and entities, and other stakeholders are invited to attend.
