Gaza city — Irada for Rehabilitation and Vocational Training Program welcomed a delegation from the Swiss agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) headed by Mrs.Véronique Hulmann, the agency’s manager, Mr. Basel Naser, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) manager in Gaza strip, and Mr. Salah Hammad with some of the program representatives. The visitors were welcomed by the chairman of the board Mr. Ali Alnazli, the program manager Mr. Emad Al-Masri and Mr. Tareq Alhabbash, the (SDC) coordinator.

Alnazli and Al-Masri welcomed the visitors and briefed them on the mission, mechanisms of recruitment and achievements of Irada. Al-Masri mentioned that since it was launched in 2012, Irada program has trained around 700 people with disabilities in several academic and vocational professions. In addition, it created employment opportinties to a large number of them, sometimes with chances for them to begin small projects. Worth mentioning, the UNDP had a significant contribution to the training of more than 200 people with disabilities.

The Irada management team noticed that the generous donations of the SDC, coupled with cooperation with the Palestinian Labor Ministry and with the supervision of UNDP, made it possible to train and employ 65 people with disabilities in seven vocational professions: Carpentry, upholstery, furniture painting, mobile and smart phone maintenance, glass and mosaic painting, handmade wood carving, burning and wood carving by computer in order to help the trainee to gain practical skills.

At the end of the visit Irada staff took the visitors on a tour of Irada program vocational workshops and the exhibition, which the guests recognized as beneficial to the Palestinian society goals and people with disabilities.