Youness Abouyoub is the Chief of Governance and State-Building Section at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA). He is in charge of a diverse portfolio of programmes on governance and institutional development for conflict prevention and sustainable development, which provides member States with substantive analysis, policy advice, technical assistance, capacity-building and knowledge sharing on a host of governance and institutional matters, including political reform and transition, crisis and conflict management, and damage and loss assessment. This holistic approach stresses the importance of laying the foundations for accountable, responsive and inclusive governance institutions, as well as crisis management and post-conflict institutional rehabilitation. These programmes also focus on consensus-building and national dialogue efforts, and international and regional governance cooperation. Dr. Youness Abouyoub, leads the publication of the Arab Governance Report and the work of ESCWA on governance and conflict prevention, which is linked to efforts to help member States to develop transparent, accountable, inclusive and effective public sector institutions and, in so doing, to improve core Government services. It shares best practices, particularly with crisis-hit, conflict-affected and post-conflict countries, and Least Developed Countries, and runs innovative technical cooperation projects designed to bolster the capacity of Member States to respond to emerging crises, build resilience and prevent conflict.