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UNDP and Germany Inaugurate Additional Floor at Palestine Avenir, Improving Lives of Disabled Children in Gaza Strip
January 11, 2023
UNDP and Germany Inaugurate Additional Floor at Palestine Avenir, Improving Lives of Disabled Children in Gaza Strip
© UNDP/PAPP image bank
Gaza, 10 January 2023 – The UNDP Special Representative and the Head of German Development Cooperation took part in the inauguration of an additional floor at the Palestine Avenir for Childhood Foundation in the Gaza Strip. The project, funded with $260,000 from the Federal Republic of Germany through its Development Bank KfW, is part of the Employment Generation Programme Phase Eleven (EGP XI) and was implemented by UNDP.
The Palestine Avenir for Childhood Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides vital rehabilitation and education services to disabled children with cerebral palsy and their families in the Gaza strip. The Foundation improves the lives of children and their families by enhancing their access to community integration and health services, including special education, physiotherapy, speech therapy, social work, and psychotherapy. The additional floor, funded by Germany and implemented by UNDP, will provide services to an additional 270 disabled children with cerebral palsy, increasing the total number of beneficiaries to 1,370.
In his opening Remarks, Mr Ahmed Al Kashif, the Director of Palestine Avenir for Childhood Foundation, thanked the Government of Germany and its Development Bank KFW for their generous support in the reconstruction of the floor. He said, “Palestine Avenir provides support to the marginalized groups in the community whose economic situation deprives them of obtaining such services for free. Thus, this support is valuable to the children and us as it helps sustain the needed services.”
The construction and finishing of the 770 m2 floor included the creation of 11 service rooms for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychotherapy and social work. The project not only had a positive impact on the lives of disabled children and their families, but it also had an economic impact, creating 2,780 working days during construction and nine permanent jobs at the foundation.
The Head of Development Cooperation in the German Representative Office in Ramallah, Mr. Peter Wolfrum, underlined the essential role of civil society at the inauguration: "Civil society organisations such as the Palestine Avenir for Childhood Foundation are essential to improve the living conditions, especially of those most in need such as disabled children suffering from cerebral palsy. I am happy that Germany together with UNDP can support this crucial work, particularly here in the Gaza strip."
The Special Representative of the Administrator for UNDP/PAPP, Ms Yvonne Helle, thanked the German government and KfW for their generous support of this project. "This partnership has made a significant difference in the lives of disabled children with cerebral palsy and their families in the Gaza Strip, and we are grateful to have been a part of it. We look forward to continuing to make a difference in the lives of Palestinians."
Since 2002, the Government of Germany through the German Development Bank, KfW, and its implementing partner UNDP/PAPP, have strived to meet the priority development needs of Palestinians and their communities. To date, eleven phases of the programme were generously financed with more than EUR 100 million, in support of the Palestinian people through UNDP/PAPP, creating over 1.37 million workdays and generating 2,200 permanent jobs.
