CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.4 English Page 10 in order to obtain more gender-specific information for planning purposes. Togo has already begun to modify its regular agricultural survey along these lines. 38. In the Near East, FAO developed a project to improve the collection and dissemination of gender-disaggregated data in agriculture and rural development through agricultural censuses and surveys. Under the project, national casestudies on improving gender-disaggregated data were prepared for several countries in the Near East (Egypt, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, the Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia and Turkey). These reports were discussed at a workshop held at Cairo from 26 to 28 July 1994. Based on the results of the workshop, guidelines for the production and dissemination of data disaggregated by gender were produced for similar undertakings in other countries in the Near East and in other regions of the world. 39. Other technical units are working to incorporate or improve genderdisaggregated statistics. For example, the Policy Analysis Division is completing its work on K2, a computerized system that will permit assessment of the impacts of a wide range of agricultural policies on key variables, including gender-disaggregated information on the labour force, income distribution, nutrition and population. FAO’s Fisheries Department redesigned its questionnaire for national statistical offices to report employment in fishing in such a way as to include gender ratios in all tasks within this sector. At the same time, the Fisheries Department established a computerized system to facilitate the dissemination of such data. 2. Influencing policy formulation 40. To assist Near Eastern countries undergoing structural adjustment to strike a balance between economic growth and the needs of rural women, the Regional Office for the Near East has established regional research task forces to provide information on such issues as the growth of women-headed households and the impact of male migration on women’s roles and workload. As a means of promoting policy dialogue and advice on women in development gender topics, the Regional Office for the Near East created "Widialogue" in 1994 as a quarterly newsletter that has attracted a wide readership including policy makers. Similarly, the FAO-sponsored Latin American and Caribbean network, which since its initiation in 1993 has grown to 24 member nations, pursues such dialogue in its annual bulletin, Redes. 41. FAO supported China’s Research Centre for Rural Economy, of the Ministry of Agriculture, to conduct a study in six provinces examining gender factors in household agriculture and food production activities. Two studies were undertaken through a technical support services-1 project in China; the Institute of Sociology focused on the effects on rural women of rural-to-urban migration under market-oriented reforms while the China Population Information Research Centre examined demographic variations and regional differences with a gender perspective. Findings were reported in a national symposium organized by the Government of China, UNDP and FAO in 1995. 42. The Information Division advised the Governments of the Central African Republic, the Comoros, the Congo and Guinea-Bissau on national development /...