Ramallah: A specialized meeting was held today in the Water Authority headquarters, to discuss mechanisms to promote community participation in the water and wastewater sector in Palestine, in implementation of the Water Authority’s strategy that aims to enhance communication with the local community of all its categories, and to promote awareness of citizens about water sector issues, to be a partner in the conservation of water resources, the protection of water and sanitation projects, and the effective contribution to overcoming obstacles.

The meeting was held with the participation of the consulting firm - Global Community Foundation, and representatives of the World Bank, the partner supporting the project, which includes four project tracks in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to institutionalizing community participation in the water sector, in the fourth track on the youth integration in the water sector.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mrs. Lana Abu Hijleh, Director General of the Global Communities Foundation, reviewed the concepts and levels of community participation, the expected outputs of the project, planning and implementation mechanisms through targeted activities targeting the local community, in parallel with developing policies, necessary guides, and capacity-raising programs Institutionalizing community participation in the water and wastewater sector. It also addressed the steps being taken to complement the previous efforts and initiatives of the Water Authority towards engaging youth and benefiting from their energies and creativity in developing the sector, as well as giving them the real opportunity to participate effectively in the practical life and development process through their integration into the water sector.

For his part, Eng. Ghunaim stressed the Water Authority’s keenness to establish a culture of community participation based on raising the awareness of the citizen regarding water and wastewater issues and their reflections on the ground, and the importance of the implemented projects, stressing the importance of building participation in contact with existing local committees and authorities that represent their local communities, and working within deliberate steps to advance the levels of community participation to build a successful experiment that achieves the vision of the Water Authority, and is a model that can be generalized in the future.

Eng. Ghunaim stressed the importance that the Water Authority attaches to the youth sector, and the need to enhance the role of this important group of society, and to make them a key partner in this development process of the sector.

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed to begin preparing the necessary action plans following the mechanisms and directions presented during the meeting, to be implemented, to achieve the strategic objectives of community participation, and to deliver the necessary messages to the local community.