Shaza Zafer Al Jundi

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Shaza Zafer Al-Jundi العربية شذى ظافر الجندي is a Syrian human rights activist, she established Disability Rights, Syria, the Syrian Cerebral Palsy Society, and was the President of the Syrian Sport Federation of the Persons with Disabilities and the Project Manager of the Community Based Rehabilitation Programme in Syria.

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  Shaza Zafer Al Jundi

Overview

Shaza Zafer Al-Jundi is a Syrian human rights activist, she established Disability Rights, Syria, the Syrian Cerebral Palsy Society, and was the President of the Syrian Sport Federation of the Persons with Disabilities and the Project Manager of the Community Based Rehabilitation Programme in Syria.

She was appointed at the International Labour Organization, ILO Regional Office for Arab States in November 1998, as Senior Programme Officer. Areas of work (Political and Economic Analysis, Workers Rights, Employment Creation, Child Labour, Gender Equality, Local Economic Development, Social Protection and Social Dialogue).

Prior assignments included, Project Manager of the Community Based Rehabilitation Programme implemented in Syria by International Labour Organizations (ILO) and United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) (1997-1998). Worked at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from (1990 -1997), Relief and Social Services Officer, and was Director of the Cerebral Palsy Centers at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour (1984-1997). She has established the Syrian Cerebral Palsy Society and was president from (1984-2000), and President of the Syrian Sports Federation for Persons with Disabilities.

In 2003, she graduated with a PhD in Political Science from the American University of London, and Masters in 1998 from the Islamic University in Human and Social Development in Islam.

Working with Persons with Disabilities

In 1982, five years after Lina (Shaza’s daughter) was born, she moved from Sheffield, UK back to Damascus. The difference in the level of care that was available to Lina, who was born with cerebral palsy, made life very difficult in Syria.

The lack of adequate medical facilities and trained medical staff, as well as the prevailing social attitudes that made parents hide their children, meant that Lina could not have the life that she deserved.

At the time, non-governmental organizations were prohibited in Syria, as was securing funds from foreign sources.

After extensive research and lobbying, Shaza was able to establish the Syrian Cerebral Palsy Society (SCPS) in 1984, with technical and financial support from the British Embassy, the International Cerebral Palsy Society and the Cerebral Palsy Overseas (UK).

Founding the SPCS changed the life of all the family, and those of thousands of others, who finally had access to a facility that cared for their children, providing them with opportunities for learning, rehabilitation, inclusion and integration into their communities. (Currently Shaza is writing a book to document her experience in this field).

By the year 2000, the new society was able to reach 6000 persons with disabilities through different activities, which included establishing rehabilitation and resources centre, a CBR programme covering all Syria, a centre for making prosthetic limbs from local materials, and Shaza was able to published 12-booklet series on caring for persons with disability targeting family members, particularly mothers. The first of their kind in the Arabic language, these booklets were distributed in several Arab countries.

Over the years, and despite government restrictions on obtaining foreign funds, SCPS garnered support from the British Embassy, Netherlands Embassy, European Women, JICA and DIAKONIA.

During the same period the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour decided to establish centres for persons with disability and Shaza was appointed the Director for the Centers, and was able to establish 6 centres for persons with disabilities all over Syria, and build the capacity of a Syrian rehabilitation team and develop educational materials, special curricula, and skills and vocational training programmes.

In 1997, Shaza was elected the President of the Syrian Sport Federation for Persons with Disabilities, promoting sports for hearing and visually impaired persons and persons with physical and mental disabilities. In collaboration with the Jordan Sport Federation for Persons with Disabilities, they developed policies, programmes, games rules and competitions. They were able to participate in the Para-Olympics and Stock Mandeville and win important prizes.

Though Shaza continued to work with persons with disabilities for many years, it is the experience of the Syrian Cerebral Palsy Society of which she is very proud of. Within just under ten years she was able to make a real impact on the lives of persons with disabilities and their families from across Syria, as she was able to established local, national and international partnerships, and through the advocacy efforts made Syrian’s more aware of the rights of persons with disabilities and both government and society’s responsibility towards them.

A Massage from Earth to the Sky (newly published book on the rights of persons with disabilities)

Shaza’s first book was published in 2013; it is a guide to the emotional journey of parenting a child with disability. It provides a clear description of techniques, adaptations to various circumstances and plenty of real life examples of living with a child with disability. This book will help people understand many of the emptions that families of persons with disability are feeling as they care for their child.

The book provides support to parents who are reaching out to their community, and recommends ways to improve rehabilitation and care in the context of society. It could be considered as resource guide to parents of children with disabilities, policy makers and professionals working with persons with disability.

The book provides analysis of the civil societies in Syria, and how NGO’s were working and facing many political and institutional challenges to promote the rights of persons with disabilities in Syria during the period 1984-2000. It includes lessons learned and best practices from the practical experiences of establishing 14 Community-based Rehabilitation Programmes (CBR) in Syria, working with the international NGO’s, public sector, charitable organizations, local communities and with organizations of persons with disabilities and their families.

At the end, the book recommends Rights-Based Strategy for inclusion of persons with disabilities into the society, which starts from the need to allow disabled persons to take their rightful place in society irrespective of the degree of their disabilities, and ends with a discussion on the political issues of disability as fundamental questions of universal rights.

Working with the UN

During the period 1990 – 1997, Shaza worked with UNRWA, Relief and Social Services Officer, and she was responsible for women development programme, shelter rehabilitation programme, special hardship cases and the relief programme.United_Nations_Relief_and_Works_Agency_for_Palestine_Refugees_in_the_Near_East, income generation programme, community development programme and the disability programme. She participated in establishing the CBR programme at UNRWA in 8 Refugees camps with the aim of promoting the inclusion of persons with disability at UNRWA schools and vocational and skill training centers and establishing CBR centers in the Refugee Camps, an experience that she is very proud of.

As project Manager of the ILO -UNDP project in Syria she was able to establish 3 pilot CBR programmes, build the capacity of the vocational training institute, and creating self-employment for persons with disabilities and establishing cooperatives for agricultural and animal husbandry for persons with intellectual disability. Build partnership and collaborations with NGO’s on CBR approach and establishing special fund for the employment creation of persons with disabilities at the United Charitable Association of Syria, promoted the ILO Conventions and code of practice related to disability. The sustainability of the project was secured as JICA continued to support the CBR programme before the uprising in Syria.

At the professional level, she is current work as an ILO Senior Programme Officer responsible for programming of activities in Bahrain, Jordan, Syria, Yemen and the UAE, in addition to the regional programme with the Arab Labour Organization. She was directly responsible for the Decent Work Country Programmes in Bahrain, Jordan, Syria and Yemen.

Shaza’s Role in the Syrian uprising

Shaza Zafer Al Jundi played a prominent role during the Syrian uprising. She wrote hundreds of articles, studies and political analysis on the Syrian uprising, violations to human rights, the conceptual framework of the civil states, new social contract for Syria, democratization, corruption, humanitarian needs and analysis, and the rights of the refugees, displaced, war injured and persons with disabilities, gender equality and the rights of vulnerable groups.

List of articles:

- التنمية المستدامة والبيئة والحرب في سورية

- مستوطنات اللاجئين السوريين غير النظامية في لبنان أرقام مرعبة

- اقتصاد الحرب وانتعاش تجارة الحرب والفساد

- سورية من أكثر دول العالم فسادًا – شذى ظافر الجندي

- الفساد في المساعدات الإنسانية في سورية
- تحليل سياسي لرواية (بيــــلان) التي تصور الإفساد في الأرض

- انتهاك حقوق الإنسان كان الدافع الأساسي والمحرك الرئيسي للثورات العربية

- اللاجئون السوريون ..... معاناة مستمرة وحقوق ضائعة

- من أجل المستقبل.. مؤتمر الحوار الوطني الشامل والعملية الانتقالية في اليمن

Shaza established Disability Rights, Syria and worked to support war victims and injured and persons with disabilities. (See Disability Rights, Syria)

Establishing Disability Rights, Syria

Shaza established Disability Rights, Syria (DRS) a non-profit organization with a group of Syrian experts focussed on the rehabilitation of victims of war and persons with disabilities among Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons in Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. The DSR are currently preparing a study on victims of war based on data provided by field hospitals.

Through “Disability Rights Syria”, Shaza and her colleagues and volunteers working in the DRS hope to achieve the following:

• Provide rehabilitation services to war victims and persons with disabilities through collaboration with international organizations and civil society to provide amputees with prosthetic limbs; psychosocial therapy, physical therapy, medical care and rehabilitation equipment.
• Provide rehabilitation equipment, wheel chairs, tricycles, corsets, and so on, to facilitate the physical mobility for persons with Physical disabilities. However mobility devices are not available in Syria, especially in rural areas. There is need to support locally made mobility devices. This will make the mobility devices more affordable and easy to maintain.
• Establish a Rehabilitation Management Information System (RIS) to ensure effective follow up and support to the service providers and the target population.
• Support the mainstreaming of disability issues in the work of International organizations providing humanitarian assistance to Syrian displaced and refugees.
• Support people with intellectual disability. Because of stigma and discrimination and during the uprising, these persons have suffered from ignorance and harassments as the rehabilitation centres were closed.
• Provide counselling services and social and economic support for the injured and victims of trauma.
• Promote the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and to ensure the participation of people with disabilities and their representatives at all stages of the programme.
• Support national and local DPOs in planning and implementing the programmes. They can also serve as resource people to advise other NGOs regarding the specific needs of disabled people and the most appropriate ways to address those needs.
• Work with Arab employers’ organization to promote corporate social responsibility for providing support to the DRS
• Raise awareness throughout society regarding persons with disabilities; to foster respect for their rights and dignity; and to change attitudes towards them.

Disability Rights Syria Blogspot

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Title of Dissertation: Development, Human Rights and Corruption. American University of London School of Humanities Faculty of Economics and Politics, Specialization: Political Science, 2000-2003
  

One of the primary objectives of the research is to work on a conceptual framework for the dynamic of corruption in the Arab States. The substances part of this conceptual analysis revolves around the question of how corruption affects human rights and development. The research answers the following questions (Is a country underdeveloped because of corruption, or is a country corrupt because of underdevelopment? What are the mechanisms to combat corruption that is available to reformers in the Arab World?)

The research proved that the key to reduced corruption is an approach to comprehensive development integrating good governance and anti-corruption strategies. Participatory approaches to fighting corruption and especially the important of active involvement of civil societies and the media are fundamental to any successful anti-corruption reform programme. Such an approach must be evidence based, non-partisan, and transparent as well as inclusive, integrated, comprehensive and impact oriented.

The research also proves that the vicious circle of corruption and lower development must be broken, and if development efforts are to be succeeding, Arab states have to break this pattern, and therefore must mainstream human rights concerns, governance, democratic principles and anticorruption policies in all their development strategies.

At the end the research proposes a comprehensive conceptualizes anti-corruption reforms under six headings: a rights-based approach to development, building political will, public awareness, prevention, institution building and enforcement.

The research concludes that if anyone is searching for tried and true national reform strategies- much less (quick fixes) will be disappointed. No country is free of corruption; moreover , those where it is kept under control have generally dealt with their corruption problems in the course of addressing other long term goals, such as opening up their canonise and building sustainable democracies.

However, fighting corruption can never be an isolated policy objective. It must be an integral part of the comprehensive development strategy to promote a transparent and accountable government.

• Masters of Arts, Title of the Dissertation: Human and Social development in the Arabic and Islamic World. The University of Islamic and Arabic Science, the College of Arts, Humanities Section, 1997-1999
  

This dissertation examines the principles of sustainable social and economic development as explained by western writers and UN policies. Therefore it begins with stating the background and basic ideas of social and economic development. This will be followed by a discussion on sustainable development in Islam as explained by Kalifa Ali Iben Al Taleb (Nahj al-Balagha or Peak of Eloquence), and Ibn Khaldun book (Muqaddimah known as Prolegomena) and its interpretation by Arab scholars.

The dissertation reviews the economic and social development theories of Islamic scholars that suggest comprehensive development. The dissertation will end with a summary of principles of sustainable comprehensive development that need to be used by Muslim countries in planning their development activities.

References

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