The United Arab Emirates National Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will organize a five-day regional CountrySTAT training for The Gulf Cooperation Council Member States. The event will take place from 26 to 30 January 2014 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

CountrySTAT is web-based information system on food and agriculture which provides easy access to statistical data of good quality that can aid decision-makers in better, evidence-based policy-making and greater efficiency in development politics. Nationally owned and maintained, it serves as a one stop centre that enables the collection and harmonization of timely and reliable official data from different sources and their integration in a common location. Data provided through CountrySTAT serves researchers, policymakers, development organizations, and the private sector to design and implement better policy and investments in agriculture.

The purpose of the training is to provide national delegates from the GCC member states with skills and experience on how to use the CountrySTAT platform for the dissemination of official statistics on food and agriculture and the comprehensive process to upload data. It will also provide an excellent opportunity for members of GCC to work together under the direction of the FAO Headquarters based CountrySTAT Team, with support from the GCC Secretariat, to further promote the use of CountySTAT at regional and national levels.

Mr Sirelkhatim Mohamed, Investment Officer from the FAO Sub-regional Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council States and Yemen, in the United Arab Emirates, will open the meeting.

The main objective of this five-day event is to provide the participants with basic training on the CountrySTAT System which is based on cutting-edge open-source technology called FENIX.

The participants will be trained on how to use CountrySTAT in their daily work. In particular there will be presentations as follows:

• Presentation of the IT module and the new CountrySTAT system: participants will be given the opportunity to develop skills and gain experience on the comprehensive process to upload data, as well as the optimal utilization of the new CountrySTAT platform and framework for the dissemination of official statistics on food and agriculture;
• Presentation of the Statistics module and the CountrySTAT framework: concepts, classifications, data collection process, validation and harmonization of data, according to international standards, e-learning, and links to Global Strategy, Agricultural Censuses/Surveys, Food Balance Sheets and Statistical Yearbooks;
• Presentation of the CountrySTAT Communications strategy and CountrySTAT Partnership;
• Presentation on the coordination of the Countries’ activities and Institutional Framework, Key National Structures and CountrySTAT Capacity Development;
• Presentation of the systems: FAOSTAT, CountrySTAT, AMIS, New Prototype of CountrySTAT and RegionSTAT.

At the end of the workshop the participants will be able to apply the acquired knowledge, methodologies, and best practices related to the collection, harmonization and dissemination of official data related to food and agriculture using the CountrySTAT system.