The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) conducted a meeting for signing grant agreements with local authorities under the "Empowerment, Mainstreaming and Inclusion: Promoting the Rights of People with Disabilities in Palestine" project, as part of the interventions related to rehabilitating some buildings affiliated with the local authorities for its harmonization to the needs of people with disabilities. The meeting took place at APLA's premises in Ramallah, attended by APLA's President, Abdel Karim Al-Zubeidi, APLA's Executive Director, Eng. Abdallah Anati, the Mayors of local authorities, EducAid representatives, and APLA's staff.
APLA's President, Al-Zubeidi, signed the grant agreements with the beneficiary local authorities represented by; the Mayor of Beita, Mahmoud Barham; the Mayor of Sourif, Hazem Ghnaimat; Mayor of Beit Awwa, Yousef Al-Sweiti; the Mayor of Al-Thaheriyah, Shaddad Al-Nammourah, the Mayor of Barta'a, Ghassan Qabaha; and the President of Faqou'ah Village Council, Barakat Al-Omari, with the aim of implementing partial rehabilitation projects to the buildings of these local authorities in order to facilitate access of people with disabilities and facilitate providing them with services.
Beneficiary local authorities will conduct the rehabilitation works as per their needs, Beita Municipality will work on harmonizing one of the parks affiliated with the municipality, in order to make it more accessible for people with disabilities in addition to harmonizing a toilet inside the municipal building. Whereas, Beit Awwa and Al-Thaheriyah municipalities will work on adding an adapted elevator for people with disabilities inside the municipal buildings. Barta'a Municipality will work on constructing a corridor for peoples with disabilities at the health center affiliated with the municipality, and Faqou'ah Village Council will work on constructing a corridor and rehabilitate the Council's building and some facilities in service of people with disabilities living in the village.
Al-Zubeidi expressed that APLA seeks through this project to contribute as much as possible to promoting and enhancing the rights of people with disabilities through enhancing the abilities and capacities of local authorities to adopt and integrate the priorities of people with disabilities into municipal work. He praised the role of local authorities who applied for the grants and their efforts seeking to provide services responsive to the needs and inclusive of everyone. He also thanked the local authorities benefiting from the grant for their financial contribution out of their own budgets, allocated for implementing all their requirements of their own projects.
The grant agreements are the result of a series of activities APLA implemented under the project with the aim of guaranteeing the empowerment, mainstreaming and inclusion of people with disabilities in local authorities by responding to their various needs and creating conducive circumstances allowing them more opportunities in all fields. The beneficiary local authorities were selected after submitting their letter of interest and competing against 22 other local authorities.
It is worth mentioning that the "Promoting the Rights of People with Disabilities in Palestine" project is implemented in partnership with EducAid, and funded by AICS, within the frame of APLA's commitment to develop its policies and implement its interventions in line with SDG 11 "Making cities and communities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable".
