Enhancing Inclusion and Participation in the Local Development Planning Process
Background:
"Enhancing Inclusion and Participation in the Local Development Planning" project is a pilot initiative that aimed at enhancing local development planning in small communities, with a major focus on the involvement and participation of various community groups, especially marginalized groups, in the entire planning process. This project was implemented with the support of the strengthening Civil Society Programme - GIZ, commissioned by The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Project objectives:
- Promoting local development planning in 6 communities in Bethlehem and Hebron governorates, with a focus on the involvement and participation of different community goups of the community, especially marginalized groups, in the planning process.
- Promoting community accountability as an integrated approach within the local planning process through a comprehensive perspective to increase civic participation by enforcing accountability toward local authorities to commit to their obligations towards their citizens.
Target areas:
Bethlehem Governorate: Dar Salah, Al Shawawra, Marah Rabah
Hebron Governorate: Abu Al-Ghazlan, Beit Al-Rosh Al-Fawqa, Khallet Al-Mayyah
Target groups:
Direct beneficiaries:
- 75 members of the Local Development Planning Committees (44 males, 31 females).
- 32 members of the Youth Accountability Teams (12 males, 20 females), including 3 persons with disabilities.
Indirect beneficiaries:
808 people (396 males, 412 females), including 58 people with disabilities.
Project activities and outputs:
- Supporting municipal councils in the targeted areas by reviewing the activity of the local development planning committees, and submitting recommendations to municipal councils in order to activate these committees. QADER also organized a training day for the local development planning committees in each targeted area on local development planning and community participation.
- Forming and supporting youth accountability teams in each targeted area, with an average of 5 persons in each area. QADER also organized a specialized training program on local development planning, accountability and community participation for the teams.
- Implementing awareness campaigns in the targeted areas to enhance citizens' awareness and behavior towards local development planning.
- Supporting the process of local development planning in the targeted areas by preparing an in-depth report on the social development sector in each targeted area, and attaching these reports to the development plan for each area, as these plans were submitted to the Ministry of Local Development. This was in addition to supporting the development planning committees and municipal councils in implementing the disclosure sessions.