Independence and autonomy of people with disabilities in Gaza

The I-CAN project was dedicated to strengthening the independence and self-determination of people with disabilities (PWD), especially women with disabilities, primarily through the establishment of an integrated and innovative Centre in cooperation with local organisations. The Centre is today the hub for improving the autonomy of the PWDs through the provision of personalised individual and group services. The Centre, in particular, has the characteristic of involving, as operators/women, staff with disabilities, proposing “in fact” a model of real contrast to stereotypes and strongly marked by the protagonism of the PWD in the target territory.

The evaluation work was carried out as follows.

• First, we worked to develop a critical analysis of the project path, taking care to build the logic of the intervention on the basis of the real potential and external constraints that emerged from the start. This analysis allowed to define the evolution of the reference framework presented at the initial stage (relevance of the intervention) and to analyses the progress of the project (through the monitoring documents and some interviews addressed to the actors involved in the activities (efficiency of the intervention).
• Secondly, have been investigated the economic, social and institutional factors that can ensure the implementation of the planned service activities (setting out the minimum standards of success with EducAid in the framework of the OECD DAC criteria).
• Thirdly, a quantitative study was organized, questionnaires have been administered to the users of the Centre and to teachers who received training. This demanding work has allowed us to work on a specific data source that strictly oriented to assess the effectiveness, sustainability and impact of the project.  During the data processing data, documentations, results achieved and perceptions of key informants have been triangulated and evidences have been discussed with the project team to complete the analysis.