Wasla: Youth with and without disabilities advocating their rights
For the first time in the Gaza Strip, an integrated training program that brings together young people with and without disabilities to advocate for the rights of young people and people with disabilities within an inclusive approach. Wasla program seeks to support the rights of young people and improve the reality of persons with disabilities and enable them to effectively advocate their issues within a more comprehensive framework.
In Wasla training program, 65 young men and women from all the governorates of Gaza met for 6 training days, during which they took theoretical workshops and practical training, which was the first step in developing their personal and leadership skills and brought them closer to engaging in community work and advocating their issues and rights.
The training initially addressed basic skills such as teamwork, and then gradually moved to more specialized topics such as the concept of gender, gender roles, and gender-based violence in addition to the concept of active citizenship.
The workshops also included a comprehensive definition of human rights, international conventions on civil, social and political rights, and the rights of persons with disabilities.
Several concepts and terminology related to advocacy and social accountability, and how to design and manage a successful advocacy campaign were also presented.
Nariman Hwaihi, project coordinator, said that Wasla training is an actual translation of an activity that brings people together with and without disabilities to achieve the Forum’s vision of a community for all “Young people have enormous potentials and abilities and investing in these abilities will amount to great success”, she added.
On his participation in the training program, Mohamed Okal said: “Wasla has been a wonderful experience that left a strong imprint on me simply because it developed from my advocacy skills and corrected several concepts I misunderstood. I knew what social accountability means and how to use social media to create a complete digital advocacy campaign.”
Heba Abu Jazar also expressed her benefit from the training: “ Wasla project was one of the most important milestones in my life because it helped me to find myself and gave me a one of a kind training and the opportunity to merge with people without disabilities. It broke many barriers for me.”
Wasla Program: Strengthening the local response to advocacy for the rights of persons with disabilities comes in partnership with the Medical Aid for the Palestinians-MAP