Press conference to launch advocacy campaigns- Wasla
In continuation of the activities of Wasla Program, Social Developmental Forum held a press conference on Monday, 9 March, in the presence of a number of media agencies and influencers, through which it announced the launch of 3 major advocacy campaigns on the rights of persons with disabilities, to be implemented during the coming period led by 50 young men and women who participated in Wasla youth training program. These campaigns come as one of the methods adopted by the Forum in reflecting its efforts to advocate and support the issues of marginalized groups and defend their rights.
Nariman Hwaihi – Program Coordinator at Social Developmental Forum – opened the conference, stressing that advocacy for the rights of persons with disabilities is a major focus of interest as they are an important component of Palestinian society, and she added that this conference constitutes a starting point for a group of activities and events that enhance the access of persons with disabilities to social and economic rights, and highlighting the social responsibilities of the stakeholders, which contributes to increasing local awareness of the acceptance and respect of all citizens.
Naji Naji, one of the participants in the conference and a representative of the youth of the “I am independent” campaign, spoke about what the campaign that focuses on promoting opportunities for people with disabilities in self-employment and entrepreneurship, based on the fact that training and work is a right for all and an inherent human right guaranteed by international conventions and agreements. Naji pointed out that the main reason that led them to address this issue is the high rate of unemployment among persons with disabilities, whose percentage in the Gaza Strip has reached 54% as a result of the deteriorating economic conditions and the ongoing blockade. He also added that the activities of the digital and field campaign will highlight the importance of aligning training and work opportunities available to persons with disabilities while eliminating the pattern of training and employment and opening up to new opportunities. He also noticed the importance of the commitment of operators in the governmental, private and private sectors to fully implement the provisions of Palestinian Law No. 4 For the year 99 regarding facilitating access to workplaces and opportunities and commitment to employ at least 5% of the staff of persons with disabilities.
The difficulty persons with disabilities face accessing banking and private sector services, the lack of accessibility of banking and services mobile applications, the weak involvement of persons with disabilities in banking and services planning processes and the weak involvement of them in submitting complaints and proposals are the reasons that prompted Warda Al-Shanti and her colleagues in the “My service, My use” campaign to launch their campaign . Warda pointed out in the conference that the poor adaption of service mobile applications will lead to a violation of the privacy of persons with disabilities, marginalization of their role, increasing their dependence on others, and their vulnerability to exploitation. She also stressed their keenness on the success of this campaign and the delivery of the message through the use of social media platforms to enhance awareness of this issue and put pressure on the responsible authorities to bring about real change through a number of field activities.
Raising social awareness towards acceptance of persons with disabilities, combating negative social attitudes and behaviors and encouraging the investment of creative tools in promoting the values of social inclusion are the goals that Haya Thabet and her colleagues in the “A Community for All” campaign have set to work towards. Haya began her speech at the conference by noting that the presence of behavioral and social barriers impedes the full integration of persons with disabilities in society and prevents them from participating effectively, and contributes to their discrimination in the level of their access to services and participation in daily and community activities. She added that through the digital campaign content and the activities that they will implement, they will work to increase social awareness towards the issues of persons with disabilities by enriching the social approach to support the rights and independence of persons with disabilities.
The conference concluded with the participating youth asserting that they will continue to activate their role aiming to change the reality of persons with disabilities for the best.
It is noteworthy that these campaigns are part of Wasla project: Improving local response to advocacy for the rights of persons with disabilities, which is implemented by the Social Development Forum in partnership with the Medical Aid for the Palestinians- MAP.