Introducing ISPAR

The Index Simulator for policymakers in the Arab Region (ISPAR) project aims to support policymakers and policymaking stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society, and academia in Arab Countries by providing an easy-to-use tool to test the potential impact of specific policies on national ranking in selected international indicators.

Young man in Cairo. Photo: Craig Boudreaux/unsplash

Improving policymaking effectiveness

Given the important role of well-designed and evidence-based policies in advancing achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on national levels, ESCWA aims through ISPAR project to assist its member states in identifying effective and efficient procedures that could be implemented in the short, medium and long term to enhance country’s ranking and impact the socio-economic development on national level.

Using those selected indicators, ISPAR will contribute to improve and disseminate knowledge on measuring, monitoring and evaluating performance, undertaking analysis of existing obstacles, and formulating scenarios for reforms, with the objective to improve policies’ effectiveness and efficiency.

The ISPAR simulator

Stakeholders in the Arab region will have access to the ISPAR simulator covering a large range of issues from economic integration and the quality of the business environment, to innovation, technology and gender allowing to compare the outcome of their planned and envisioned reforms and policies with those of more than 140 other countries on their performances on a number of international rankings.

At a later stage, Member states will have access to large libraries of experiences developed by other countries allowing to link policies to outcomes and enabling member states to identify suitable avenues towards greater policy effectiveness for the achievement of their stated several agendas. This project will also enhance the capacities of the private sector and individuals to make decisions based on national performance.