The head of Italy's development agency AICS's external relations office, Emilio Ciarlo, and AICS's chief in Jerusalem, Cristina Natoli, visited three projects funded by the agency in the Palestinian Territories, AICS said on Wednesday.
The first of the visits was to the National Laboratory of Public Health in the West Bank city of Ramallah, AICS said. There Ciarlo and Natoli met deputy Palestinian health minister Asaad al-Ramlawi and discussed progress on a project strengthen the primary heath-care system in Palestine through the development of infrastructure, the provision of medical equipment, staff training and community activities as well as non-communicable diseases prevention and control.
Ciarlo and Natoli then visited the Mehwar Centre women's shelter in the nearby West Bank city of Bethlehem where they were briefed by assistant Palestinian social development minister Daoud al-Deek and Saeda al-Atrash, head of the women and gender unit, AICS stated.
Ciarlo and Natoli received a presentation of Mehwar's activities and the issues raised by the survivors of violence against women and by staff and held extensive discussions on the main challenges and opportunities women encounter in the Palestinian territories.
The Mehwar Centre was opened in February 2007 with the technical and financial support of the Italian government's overseas aid department.
The third leg of Tuesday's visit was the Salesian Technical School in Bethlehem where the VIS non-government organisation is currently implementing a development project aimed at fostering youth employability in the district, AICS said.
The project features on continuous dialogue between private and public schools, the installation of solar panels on the school's roof and a wide range of professional courses offered by school, said AICS.