These proceedings relate to a regional workshop which was held in Muscat, Oman, in January 2008.

The purpose of this sourcebook is to pull together into a single document a collection of common sense tips and recommendations based on actual practices and experience around the world.

This regional workshop was designed to strengthen the capabilities of representatives of NIFUs for analyzing the situations of their NAIS, and to use their national experiences to identify strengths, weaknesses, and threats/challenges affecting seven key areas influencing development of NAIS, namely: (i) strategy/policy, (ii) institutional aspects, (iii) stakeholders, (iv) content, (v) people, (vi) infrastructure, and (vii) financial aspects. Possible solutions for the key weaknesses and threats /challenges were defined by participants.