The Most Programme is part of the Social and Human Sciences Sector of UNESCO. It was launched in March 1994 and it was designed as a research programme to produce reliable and relevant knowledge for policy makers. The programme was also designed to organize and promote international research networks, to give attention to capacity building and to establish a cleaning house of knowledge in the social field. Nine priority themes were defined :

-	Human security
-	Poverty eradication
-	International Migration
-	Urban issues
-	Globalization and Governance
-	Sustainability
-	Ethics
-	Philosophy
-	Prospective Studies

In 2002-2003, a process of field consultations with Unesco’s regional representations and scientific partners resulted in the selection of some salient thematic priorities per region. Further consultations in 2004-2005 informed especially by UNESCO’s constituencies lead to the establishment of regional priority themes for MOST Phase II. For the Arab countries the priority theme is now : the role of the State in Social Development.

See, for example, the followed documents :

-	NGOs’, governance and development in the Arab world, discussion paper (Sarah Ben Nefissa), Most vol. 4, n°15, 2000.
-	Social science and social policy : from national dilemmas to global opportunities, Most Policy papers, new series, Most-2, vol : special edition, 2005.