Impact of Networking on the Quality of Services provided by Disability Foundations in Gaza Strip Provinces

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the reality of networking and its impact on the quality of services provided by the disability institutions in Gaza Strip provinces. The researcher used the descriptive and analytical approach to suit the study, and the study population was from the disability Foundations in the Gaza Strip, which number is 69. (268) questionnaires were distributed to the study population consisting of (the Board of Directors, foundation's CEO, public relations employees, and projects employees) and (231) questionnaires were restored by (86.19%). The questionnaire was prepared to be composed of areas related to networking distributed on (35) items and areas related to the quality of services provided to people with disabilities made up of 25 paragraph, divided into five areas. The study reached the following results: the presence of statistically significant differences between the averages of the study sample estimates attributed to sex and therefore in favor of females, and to the institution's age in the benefit of the institutions ages that are less than 10 years. The results showed that the disability institutions are not linked with the other branches through a suitable computer network due to the lack of database availability, and the lack of specific financial item within the annual budget for the development of human resources in sufficient form as a result of the scarcity of resources and budgets allocated to service providers by the donors. Additionally, the use of technology led to better communication between the institutions and the public channels, also the existence of a clear organizational structure helps to ease communication between the institutions with disabilities. Furthermore, donor institutions require conditional funding that negatively impacts networking and service providing. The study reached the following recommendations: The need to support the networking efforts of institutions locally, regionally and globally. These institutions should participate in international conferences as active networks. Additionally, donors should encourage networking and set up budgets to ensure its success. Furthermore, it is of much importance to keep linkages with the international funding to disability institutions in order to continue providing services in accordance with its actual needs. In this regard, institutions should maintain mutual relations based on transparency and interaction to reach future advancement and to serve their common good. This can be reached through determining the actual needs of people with disabilities, and strengthening trust between beneficiaries and employees via mutual understanding. Besides that, it is necessary to form special committees supported by employees and based on beneficiaries complains to improve the degree of services for people with disabilities. Lastly, it is significant to link disability institutions with each another via special networks in order to avoid duplication in providing services, and that can be reached through a shared database in disability institutions.