Country: Gaza Strip
Donor: Eight per thousand – Waldensian Church
Period: 12 months
Subject area: support for disability and gender equality
Italian partners: RIDS (Italian Disability and Development Network)
Local partners: Gaza Chamber of Commerce
General objective: The WE: Women Empowered project aims to strengthen the independence and full inclusion of women with disabilities in the Gaza Strip, through socio-economic empowerment actions.
Direct beneficiaries: 100 DcDs and mothers of PcD participate in the storytelling activity, 30 women with disabilities are job oriented, 5 women with disabilities participate in a paid training internship, at least 50 organizations / companies sensitized by the Help Desk on the subject of the right to work of PwDs, at least 5 companies benefit from the environmental adaptation works
Indirect beneficiaries:Palestinian society
Project summary: The “WE: Women Empowered” project integrates the actions of the Center for Autonomy in Gaza, promoting actions to strengthen the self-esteem of DCs through workshops on storytelling and theatrical activities and actions for work empowerment through help desk services / peer counseling, professional internships, interventions for the accessibility of the workplace.
The project provides for the selection of 5 WwD for the activation of paid professional internships. The Help Desk, using the research on the needs of companies carried out in the course of 2019 in the project I-CAN 38401 / GA / 2018, will monitor the market demand for work and identify vacancy in line with the profile of the 5 selected women.
The conduct of internships and the identification of companies will also be facilitated by the Chamber of Commerce which, together with the Help Desk and the trainee, will also help define interventions for the accessibility of the workplace.
Also part of the project is a story-telling activity aimed at 100 Women with Disabilities and mothers of People with Disabilities aimed at strengthening the self-esteem and self-empowerment of WwD.
The WwD involved, through specific techniques of theatrical drama performance and storytelling, will externalize their experiences, including those relating to personal themes usually silenced due to the discrimination that society projects on disability.
The action will be supervised by Italy by experts from EducAid and RIDS to ensure the constant and correct application of the UNCRPD, on site by the project leader who will guarantee the coherence and monitoring of the actions and by the local coordinator who will be the trade union between partners of project and WwD involved.