المركز يعقد المصدر لقاءً حوارياً بعنوان ” واقع خدمة جمع وترحيل النفايات الصلبة “.

Within the activities of the project "Empowering citizens through institutionalising social accountability in local government", with support from the Local Governance Reform Programme implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, in cooperation with Al-Musaddar Municipality, held a dialogue meeting on Thursday 12 July 2018 entitled "The reality of solid waste collection and removal services".

It was attended by the deputy mayor of Al-Musaddar, a number of municipal council members and municipal officials, and representatives of neighbourhood committees and institutions, including Al-Musaddar Cultural Club, Al-Musaddar Rural Development Association, the clinic and others, along with a diverse group of citizens.

Mr. Abdel Moneim Al-Tahrawi opened the meeting by welcoming those present and thanking the municipality for its continued cooperation, stressing that this meeting comes as part of a series applying social accountability tools aimed at improving municipalities' performance in delivering services with better quality and effectiveness, and enabling citizens to take part in decision-making on the services the municipality provides.

Ms. Ruwaida Al-Musaddar, deputy mayor of Al-Musaddar, affirmed the municipality's continued efforts to create a channel of communication between the municipality and citizens on the one hand, and to listen to public opinion in the village on the other.

Eng. Mohammed Abed, head of the health and environment department, explained how the municipality works on collecting and removing solid waste and the main problems that hinder its delivery of the required service. He stressed the need to join efforts between citizens and the municipality by raising citizens' awareness of sound practices in dealing with solid waste and the importance of paying municipal dues regularly so that the municipality can provide its services with the required quality and efficiency.

The floor was then opened to questions from those present and to listening to their problems and observations, as well as the solutions and corrective mechanisms that would help improve the reality of cleanliness and the mechanism for collecting, removing and sorting waste in Al-Musaddar village.

All questions were answered, and the discussion produced an integrated picture of the different aspects of service delivery and ways to improve it from the perspective of both the local community and the municipality, resulting in the following recommendations:

Finding mechanisms to raise citizens' awareness of sound practices in dealing with solid waste, which in turn makes the municipality's work easier.
Reviewing the distribution of containers in Al-Musaddar village and identifying the needs of each area by holding community meetings in marginalised areas.
Networking with specialised institutions to develop an approach to the problem of the transport vehicle and the shortage of containers, and to find alternatives for removing solid waste such as stones and agricultural and animal waste.
Holding further community sessions to develop the set of solutions through a citizens' charter.