To better serve the needs of Member States in the region, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS www.uis.unesco.org) has established a statistical advisor in UNESCO’s Doha office. The UIS is the official data source for the education-related targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA). It is the only statistical agency to provide comparative data for countries at all stages of development in the fields of education, science and technology, culture and communication.

The statistical advisor offers GCC countries and Yemen a wide range of services, including training workshops, technical assistance and diagnostic studies. The central goal is to help countries: 

• Improve the production, quality and use of internationally comparable statistics in UNESCO’s fields of action;
• Monitor international development goals, such as the MDGs and EFA;
• Apply international standards and methodologies;
• Use national and international data for evidence based policymaking;
• Facilitate regional and inter-regional collaboration among statistical agencies, technical bodies and donors;
• Implement UIS initiatives, such as the Global Initiative of Out-of-Children;
• Respond to emerging statistical issues;
• Improve national statistical systems.