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Empowering Persons with Disabilities (PWD) to Participate in the Elections

Stemming from its belief in actual participation of all segments of the community, especially People with Disabilities (PWD), in democratic life and the electoral process; the Central Elections Commission (CEC) strengthened its cooperation with The General Union of People with Disabilities (GUPWD), who form around 7% of the population, in order to organize several activities and events addressing PWD aiming to fulfill its duties to the law. The project “Empowering People with Disabilities” came as a result of this cooperation.

 

Project objectives:

  1. Adjusting electoral districts and centers: adapting all the electoral districts to the needs of PWD to be able to elect and fully participate in the electoral process. This included adjusting all the districts’ offices, headquarters, activities, and procedures.
  2. Registration: CEC ensured registering all PWD in the voter registry.
  3. Adapting the Voter Education methods: the CEC worked on adapting parts of its electoral awareness and voter education tools and materials during the electoral process with the needs of PWD, like including Braille and Sign Languages, to encourage PWD to participate in the elections. CEC also provided a training adapted with different types of disabilities, to ensure the participation of different PWD in the electoral process, especially in Polling Day, in a way that aligns with the law.
  4. Providing a training for the registration and polling staff on the mechanisms of positive interaction with PWD.
  5. Providing easy commuting and transportation for PWD: the CEC ensured enabling PWD to reach polling centers by providing adapted transportation to commute them to the centers, or if needed reaching them to facilitate their participation in the elections. CEC also promoted public campaigns regarding this specific issue.
  6. Organizing workshops, seminars, TV and radio episodes introducing all segments of the community to their political and electoral rights, attempting also to integrate PWD in political life and the concepts of electoral culture.
  7. Adjusting electoral procedures and all the materials produced by CEC regarding the implementation of the electoral process with different types of disabilities.

CEC set a strategic plan to adjust all its work and procedures all over its districts, including all its events and activities. Wishing from all its partners to do the same based on the strategic relationships it has with them.

CEC looked into integrating PWD in its work during the local elections 2012. At the beginning of 2014, it proposed an initial concept for the project “Empowering People with Disabilities in the Elections”, funded by the UNDP and in cooperation with (GUPWD). Then, in order to provide a more inclusive conception for the interventions required to adapt the work of CEC with the needs of PWD, CEC started working on 3 phases:

 

Phase One:

Building a database for PWD. This project was carried out in cooperation with (GUPWD), the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), and other institutions working in the field.

The most significant outcome of this phase was obtaining actual data from the relevant authorities stating that there were 71,006 persons with disabilities officially registered, 70% of them (=50,196 persons) registered in the Voter Registry, divided into (30,811 persons) in the West Bank (WB), and (19,385 persons) in Gaza Strip (GS).

Based on the previous data, all polling centers all over the WB and GS were evaluated to assess their adaptation to persons with physical disabilities. The evaluation showed that there were 27 polling centers which needed construction work to make them more harmonized and accessible for PWD.

Most significant activities implemented by CEC in 2013 and 2014:

  1. Conducting a study about the relationship between PWD and elections and obtaining specific data about a big percentage of them.
  2. Collecting the data related to PWD.
  3. Holding a workshop with (GUPWD).
  4. Checking the data and comparing it with the voter registry.
  5. Distributing voters to the districts.
  6. Evaluating the polling centers in order to adapt them.
  7. Identifying the centers which needed adaptation.
  8. Signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with (GUPWD).
  9. Providing a training for the employees of CEC about integrating the concept of Disability into its work, and facilitating the participation of PWD in all CEC’s work and activities.
  10. Collaborating with the Ministry of Education in order to adjust the polling stations that are affiliated with it (the schools).
  11. Commencing the adaptation work with installing ramps at the polling centers to facilitate the access of PWD during the electoral process.

 

Phase Two:

CEC held a series of workshops including the heads of the GUPWD branches along with all CEC staff from all over the country, introducing the main goal of the project and its alignment with CEC’s vision.

CEC contracted a team of consultants affiliated with the GUPWD to hold various meetings with CEC crews in order to provide prepositions of the interventions needed to integrate PWD in its work. As a result, the team, in cooperation with CEC, presented an action matrix to be used as a guide of how to integrate PWD, and it is the base on which the current project was built.

 

Phase Three:

CEC developed a complete and inclusive concept for the project, managed to get funds from the Norwegian Government to implement the different activities which took place over the years 2015 and 2016, and included:

  1. Capacity building for CEC’s employees in regards of adapting their work to empower PWD and enable them to easily participate in the electoral process.
  2. Studying other local and international experiences in this matter.
  3. Adjusting CEC’s procedures to the needs of PWD.
  4. Holding awareness workshops targeting PWD.
  5. Performing an election simulation in schools specialized for PWD.
  6. Launching an inclusive media awareness campaign about the participation of PWD in elections and in political life in general, by highlighting the intersections with PWD.
  7. Producing awareness material in different forms visual, audible and textual in languages aligned with different types of disabilities. In addition to adapting CEC’s website. Most of these materials are entitled “It is my right to participate”.

 

Publications and other awareness productions for PWD:

Special flyer about voter registration

Special flyer about nomination

TV spot about voter registry

TV spot about running for elections

Spot about the polling process

Short film about PWD and elections

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