A one-day workshop will gather today a group of local partners in the field of physical disabilities and ministries of concern to ensure the sustainability of current activities of the completed project “Improving the life conditions of people with physical disabilities through the use of ICT tools and applications”.

The US$453,000 project was fully funded by the Italian Government and was managed by the Italian NGO Associatione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale (AVSI) in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).  It started in September 2003 with an overall aim to provide equal opportunities for people with physical disabilities to be integrated within and participate in society both socially and economically. 

The project was positively received by the beneficiaries, especially that innovative initiatives targeting disabled people are very scarce in Jordan.  It established a specially equipped IT center for the physically disabled run by Al Hussein Society for the Habilitation/Rehabilitation of the Physically Challenged which is using a pioneering technology to help develop the skills of those with disabilities. It also equipped additional IT rooms in seven organizations.

As part of its awareness raising component on the rights and opportunities of people with physical disabilities, the project has helped in publishing ERADA, the first national quarterly publication on disabilities with a distribution of over 10,000 copies.

In preparation of the second phase of the project, the workshop of today  will initiate a discussion about potential activities and partnerships within the planned phase.  It will take into consideration the outcomes of the evaluation of the first phase to ensure improved planning of the project activities and learning from experience.  The activities started during phase one will be strengthened and expanded to guarantee their future sustainability.  The existing network of reliable partners will be used to start new project activities and to address the challenges identified during the implementation of phase one.

The workshop will include presentations on UNDP’s mandate and areas of experience as well as AVSI’s work experience.