The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities "APLA" announced the Municipality of Atarah as the winner of the Inclusive Local Authority Award, as part of the project "Empowerment, Mainstreaming and Inclusion: Promoting the Rights of People with Disabilities in Palestine", funded by the AICS, and implemented in partnership and cooperation with EducAid, an Italian NGO. The project aims to develop the capacities of local authorities and enhance their competences in a way that guarantees the empowerment, integration and inclusion of people with disabilities through responding to their various needs.
The Municipality of Atarah was selected out of 14 local authorities competing for the award, by developing an inclusion plan of people with disabilities in local authorities. The selection criteria included the quality of the plan in terms of having clear activities and specified costs and duration, the extent of meeting the needs and priorities of people with disabilities, the impact on the local community and the long-term change, and the participation of people with disabilities in the planning process, among other criteria aiming at the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities. The winning local authority shall commit to use the award amount for implementing part of the submitted inclusion plan.
It is worth mentioning that this activity is organized under the Project on Enhancing the Rights of People with Disabilities in Palestine, and under the frame of APLA's commitment to develop its policies, and execute its procedures in a manner that guarantees taking into consideration the different various needs and the inclusion of all.