The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Ms. Buthaina Al Salem, participated in the regional workshop on capacity building for data systems and evidence-based monitoring.

Ms. Buthaina Al Salem, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, participated in a regional capacity-building workshop on data systems and evidence-based monitoring for members of the Emergency Committee to protect women during Armed Conflicts. The workshop, held in the Jordanian capital, Amman, was organized by the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, Social Affairs Sector – Women’s Department, UN Women, and the Association of Arab Universities, through the Center for Research and Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, with participation from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen.

The workshop aimed to strengthen member states capacities to develop and use integrated, evidence-based information systems that support the protection of women in armed conflict, in line with the monitoring and analysis component of the Arab Emergency Committee’s action plan.

The workshop discussed the Emergency Committee’s role in addressing the growing challenges facing women and girls in armed conflict through the development of monitoring and documentation mechanisms, amid existing gaps in the availability of comprehensive and interconnected data on their circumstances. It also examined the limited availability, fragmentation and incompleteness of existing data, and the resulting challenges for decision-makers in designing policies and developing appropriate crisis responses.

Over two days, the training covered a scientific methodology for designing a monitoring system to protect women and girls in armed conflict. This included planning and data collection in accordance with ethical and humanitarian standards and safeguards, data validation and analysis, and secure data sharing within a governance framework, culminating in the use of monitoring findings to inform decision-making, follow-up and the identification of gaps.

In this context, Ms. Buthaina Al Salem, the Deputy minister of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, presented the State of Palestine’s experience in launching the National Observatory on Violence against Women. She outlined the rationale for its establishment, its importance, and the stages of its development and implementation as a national monitoring tool responsive to the particular realities of Palestine under occupation. She also highlighted the Observatory’s strategic value in providing a national, evidence-based database that contributes to the development of national policies and strategic directions, strengthens coordination and follow-up, and supports the Ministry’s efforts to monitor and respond to violence against wome