Country readiness to monitor SDG 4 education targets: regional survey for the Arab States

In order to examine countries’ ability to measure and report on progress made towards achieving the education goal, the UIS conducted a regional survey in the Arab States to assess the availability of the underlying data required to produce the indicators for monitoring SDG 4. The survey identified data gaps and areas where investments may be required to further extend/enhance the scope and quality of data sources on education. It also contributed to the development of a regional capacity-building strategy. The survey covered the list of 43 thematic indicators, including the subset of 11 global indicators. It was conducted among government staff responsible for education statistics, typically in policy and planning units of education ministries, which are also mandated to report statistics to UNESCO and in some instances, the National Statistical Office. The survey, which ran from February to March 2016, covered 18 countries in the region. Respondents were asked to report whether or not their country produce the data required for the calculation of each of the indicators. Filtered by the availability of required data, additional details, such as latest available year, periodicity of data collection and level of disaggregation of the latest available data by individual characteristics, were collected.