Dear Source subscribers,
Source has recently become a partner in the Inclusion Works programme. To celebrate this please find an introduction about the programme below. Followed by Source’s regular quarterly e-bulletin, which includes a selection of 20 resources recently added to the Source collection on Disability and Inclusion.
Innovative programme launched to enable people with disabilities to get decent jobs
One year on from the first Global Disability Summit, a groundbreaking programme is now underway to address the barriers that prevent millions of people with disabilities from accessing mainstream job markets.
The programme, called Inclusion Works, represents one of the world’s most comprehensive attempts to date to redress the underrepresentation of people with disabilities in formal employment in developing countries.
UK aid announced its funding for the programme last year as it co-hosted the first Global Disability Summit in London.
As Inclusion Works moves to its next phase, the programme will pilot new approaches that create job opportunities for over 2,000 young people with disabilities in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Bangladesh over the next three years.
Simon Brown, one of the key researchers who has been developing the programme says: “Young people with disabilities living in these countries play an integral role in helping us define what wide-scale success looks like in this programme and helping us shape its objectives.”
“At the same time, we have also been talking to major companies who clearly want to tap into this talent pool but need to overcome certain barriers themselves.”
It is estimated that there are 800 million people with disabilities living in low and middle-income countries. In most countries around the world, people with disabilities face multiple barriers to employment, which means significant numbers remain unemployed.
Vladimir Cuk from the International Disability Alliance says; “Reliable data about people with disabilities is often scarce and while we know employment rates are really low, most programmes tackling this have been on such a small scale that it hasn’t been possible to make a real dent on the wider system.”
“UK aid funding is expected to be game-changing in this respect. Inclusion Works is aiming to make a significant contribution towards greater compliance of the formal employment sector with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, changing the whole culture around recruiting and retaining young people with disabilities to work and earn a living in equal conditions to others.”
Inclusion Works aims to work in partnership with over 100 employers to test new practices that are compliant with UN disability rights protocols. It will be designed to include people of a wide range of disabilities, including blind-deafness and intellectual disabilities.
The programme is being led by charity Sightsavers in a coalition that brings together the expertise of 11 partner organisations including ADD International, BBC Media Action, Benetech, Development Initiatives, Humanity and Inclusion UK, Inclusion International, the International Disability Alliance, the Institute of Development Studies, Standard Chartered Bank and the Youth Career Initiative.
This work is part of the Inclusive Futures initiative, a wider drive funded by UK aid to create an equal world for people with disabilities in developing countries.
1. Every learner matters: Unpacking the learning crisis for children with disabilities, McLAIN-NHALPO, Charlotte et al, THE WORLD BANK, INCLUSION INTERNATIONAL, LEONARD CHESHIRE - 2019
2. More at risk: how older people are excluded in humanitarian data, TANJANG, Gaynor and VENTURES, Lumina, HELPAGE INTERNATIONAL - 2019
3. Assistive Technology in Tajikistan: Situational Analysis and Provision of wheelchairs in Tajikistan: Economic assessment of alternative options, WHO Regional Office for Europe - 2019
4. Seeing the invisible: Sexuality-related knowledge, attitudes and behavior of children and youth with disabilities in China, SHANGHAI INSITITUTE OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD RESEARCH (SIPPR), UNESCO, HUMANITY & INCLUSION (HI) - 2019
5. Leaving no-one behind: Building inclusive social protection systems for persons with disabilities, KIDD, Stephen et al., DEVELOPMENT PATHWAYS - Feb 2019
6. Labour market inclusion of people with disabilities, ILO/OECD - Feb 2018
7. Removing barriers - The path towards inclusive access disability assessment among Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. Jordan report and Removing barriers - The path towards inclusive access disability assessment among Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. Lebanon report, ASAI, Yahoko et al, HUMANITY & INCLUSION (HI)/iMMAP - July 2018
8. “On the Margins” Education for Children with Disabilities in Kazakhstan, RITMANN, Mira, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH - March 2019
9. Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000–2017 Special focus on inequalities, UNICEF/WHO - June 2019
10. CII launches the India Business Disability Network, a unique platform for companies to enable inclusion, ILO - February 2019
11. The missing billion - Access to health services for 1 billion people with disabilities, KUPER, Hannah and HEYDT, Phyllis, INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EVIDENCE IN DISABILITY (ICED) - July 2019
12. Measuring disability using the Washington Group questions, DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID) - Aug 2018
13. Toolkit for safe listening devices and systems, WHO/INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNION (ITU) - 2019
14. Disability & the Global South (DGS), 2018, Vol. 5 No. 2: Special issue: Intersecting indigeneity, colonisation and disability, THE CRITICAL INSTITUTE - 2018
15. Disability, health and human development, MITRA, Sophie, PALGRAVE MACMILLAN - 2018
16. Coordination between health and rehabilitation services in Bangladesh: Findings from 3 related studies, PRYOR, Wesley et al, HUMANITY & INCLUSION (HI) Bangladesh - April 2019
17. World Health Organization global disability action plan: The Mongolian perspective, KHAN, Fary et al, MEDICAL JOURNALS LTD - April 2018
18. Guidelines on best practice for persons living with deafblindness, ZWANENBURG, Aline and TESNI, Sian, CHRISTIAN BLIND MISSION (CBM) - June 2019
19. Forgotten in a crisis: Addressing dementia in humanitarian response, GLOBAL ALZHEIMER’S & DEMENTIA ACTION ALLIANCE, ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE INTERNATIONAL and ALZHEIMER’S PAKISTAN - May 2019
20. Access to social protection among people with disabilities: Evidence from Viet Nam, BANKS, Lena et al, INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY REVIEW - January 2019