QADER for Community Development

At 2008, QADER for Community Development was officially registered at the Palestinian Ministry of Interior. It was founded through a joint and collaborative effort by a group of Palestinian professionals who have remarkable experiences in fields related to development, disability, health, and rehabilitation. The founders’ main concern was to serve and enrich the disability sector from new perspectives derived from the social model of rehabilitation and the principles of equality and human rights. There was no doubt that the Palestinian civil society organizations have done substantial effort to develop the sector and serve persons with disabilities during the last two decades, but still there were several aspects in the sector that need to be addressed from a development perspective with the focus on the rights of persons with disabilities.

The founders concluded that services provided to persons with disabilities are almost limited to medical and rehabilitation services which only focus on the persons with disabilities; however, they ignore the importance of working on the constraining environment. Further to that, these services have never been allocated fairly in terms of geography and intensity of population. On the other hand, there has also been a lack of coordination among the various service providers, especially in the last decade.

Based on that, QADER funders agreed on the importance of creating a new criterion of intervention which primarily encourages on the effective participation of persons with disabilities. They started holding meetings and have sequential brainstormings which were the first step towards establishing QADER of Community Development. QADER has a philosophy that is based on a comprehensive work. It believes in the full partnership with persons with disabilities in the planning and implementation of strategies and policies that affect their lives so that they can live in dignity and in suitable living standards.