Irada Program for Rehabilitation and Vocational Training has started evaluating applicants to participate in its project ‘Enhancing Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities’.

Applicants first go through an interview with Jamil Al-Tahrawi, associate professor of mental health, Fadi Dawood, project coordinator from Human Appeal International, and Manal Hasna, deputy director for fundraising and public relations. Then, successful interviewees sit for a medical diagnosis to determine the nature of their disability. People who are hearing-impaired or suffer from a visual or physical disability are eligible to participate in this project.

This new project, to which more than 200 PwDs have applied, is funded by Human Appeal International and implemented by Irada on behalf of the Deanship of Community Service and Continuous Education of the Islamic University of Gaza.

The project will train selectees on a wide range of vocational fields including carpentry, manual wood-carving and pyrography, furniture painting and upholstery, bookbinding and gift decoration, and.

“We will select 85 people with disability to participate in this project,” said Imad Almassri, Irada program manager. “They will be trained in the field which meets their interest and is appropriate with their disability.”

For four years, Irada has trained more than 700 people, male and female, in a variety of vocational and academic fields. Further, it has placed in jobs 400 ones and supported the establishment of 9 independent businesses for some of these trainees.