The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) conducted a workshop through the Innovation Hub under the title "Strategic Planning for Geographical Information Systems (GIS) at Municipalities". An international model for the evaluation and management of geographical information within institutions "Slimgim" was introduced in order to benefit from international experiences with this regard. The workshop was attended by 21 representatives from engineering and planning department at local authorities via "Zoom".
APLA's Activities Coordinator, Shurouq Rabee' clarified that this workshop aims to pave the path for local authorities to introduce new tools and means that contribute to providing resources and simplifying tasks and transactions. She also welcomed the Canadian expert in GIS at municipalities, Consultant Pale Giroux, who presented the mentioned model in addition to explaining the ways of using and implementing it in municipalities' work.
In return, Consultant Giroux gave an introduction to the Slimgim Palestine program and how to implement it in municipalities, the importance of using it and means of evaluating the results. He also clarified the importance of municipalities' commitment in the executive structure when implementing it and the importance of thinking in planning and evaluation processes and managing the challenges facing the municipalities in its implementation. The aim is to identify a starting point for building the program, presenting samples of geographical date related to the program in Palestine, in addition to the steps of developing strategies for GIS within local authorities.
It is worth mentioning that this workshop was conducted under the Technical Hub Program for local authorities, implemented in partnership between APLA and LGRP-GIZ, comprised of five Hubs: Innovation Hub; Public Relations Hub; Engineering and Planning Hub; Financial Management Hub and Village Councils Hub.
