Course Empowers Activists for the Disabled

Last week SHATIL organized a two-day session skill building course for professional managers from organisations working with Israelis with disabilities. This unique six-month course was the initiative of the Joint Distribution Committee and the social services organisation Elka, which invited SHATIL to be a full partner based on its reputation as the leading provider of capacity building services to social change organisations in Israel. The 25 participants in the course, all of whom are themselves disabled, represent a variety of organisations, including the Association of Equality and Justice for the Disabled, Seeing the Person and the Municipality of Jerusalem.

The central goal of the course is to empower these managers and provide them with critical professional skills to both advance their own organisations and establish new projects for the disabled. SHATIL is tasked with conducting three skill-building sessions within the course, which focus on creating joint ventures and resource development. The response of participants to these sessions was very positive with over 80 percent of participants stating they were "satisfied' or "very satisfied" with the sessions.