Context: The 2011, World Disability Report estimated that there were one billion people with disabilities worldwide, out of whom between 110-190 million experienced very significant disabilities. This means that 15 in every 100 people in the world had a disability and that 2-4 people out of every 100 had really severe disabilities. About 80 per cent of the people with disabilities are of working age. Also, there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide with nearly 80 per cent of them living in developing countries. The number of youth with disabilities is likely to increase due to youthful age structures in most developing countries. In Botswana, the number of people with disabilities increased from 58,976 (3.5% of the population) in 2001 to 59,103 (2.9% of the population) in 2011, with an almost equal number of men and women having a disability. About 66 per cent of the people with disabilities lived in the rural areas. There were 15 million children, adults and elderly persons with disabilities in Ethiopia in 2011. This accounted for 17.6 per cent of the country’s population. A vast majority of the people with disabilities in Ethiopia live in the rural areas whereas 95 per cent live in poverty. In Zambia, two million or 15 per cent of the country’s population were living with disabilities in 2011. Zambia’s disability prevalence rate among the working age population was estimated at nine per cent in 2011 with substantially more women than men having a disability. The disability prevalence in Zambia is also more rural than urban. Generally, people with disabilities on average or as a group are more likely to experience adverse socio-economic outcomes than persons without disabilities. These include less education, lower levels of employment, higher poverty rates and poorer health outcomes. However, economic losses related to exclusion of persons with disabilities from productive work are large and measurable, ranging from 3 to 7 per cent of the gross domestic product.
Implementation of programme/ initiative: Promoting Rights and Opportunities for People with Disabilities in Employment through Legislation (PROPEL) is an Irish/ILO funded project implemented in Botswana, Ethiopia and Zambia in 2012-2015 at a cost of US$ 2,663,087. It is implemented through partnership between government, disabled persons’ organizations, employers, trade unions, technical and vocational training institutions, universities, media and United Nations agencies. It aims to promote employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Specifically, it aims to make the world of work more inclusive of people with disabilities by addressing both the supply and demand side constraints of the labour market. The supply side intervention seeks to ensure better access of people with disabilities to regular skills development while the demand side initiative aims at making private sector employers to be more open to employing persons with disabilities. The PROPEL also works on matching the supply and demand sides of the labour market through mediation and placement services, and supported employment services. The programme facilitates these initiatives by supporting the creation of a more conducive environment for disability inclusion. This includes technical advice and capacity building for revision of legislation and policies to address discrimination in access to, or at, work.
Main challenges: The key challenges faced by the PROPEL project were gender mainstreaming, negative publicities and perception about the abilities of the people with disabilities, and restrictive training curricula in the implementing countries that were blind on the unique education and training needs of the people with disabilities. Challenges of gender mainstreaming was overcome through analysis of power relations and restructuring; negative publicity was addressed through strong and coherent media campaigns, inclusive of enforcement of advocacy for support to people with disabilities and showcasing their achievements; and the project provided technical and capacity development support for review of education and training curricula.
Results Achieved: In Zambia, the employment rate of young persons with disabilities who had undergone skills training through the PROPEL project increased by 70 per cent compared to those who did not get the training. Also, enrolment of young men and women with disabilities in TVET institutions increased from 44 in 2012 to 200 by 2015. The project also supported the revision of disability inclusive laws and policies, facilitated the building and strengthening of implementation structures and the capacity of governments, disabled persons’ organizations, and employers’ and workers’ organizations. It also helped to review university and TVET training curricula, inspired improved media reporting, and facilitated dissemination of information on the rights, abilities and capacities of people with disabilities. In Ethiopia, the PROPEL project influenced inclusion of questions on employment of people with disabilities in the country’s labour force surveys.
Moving Forward: Negative perceptions, attitudes and stereotypes about people with disabilities is a vice that is entrenched in the society. Changing such attitudes and stereotypes require concerted efforts. Consolidating the gains of PROPEL requires up-scaling its activities in the respective project countries, including other countries without similar programmes. The rights and privileges of people with disabilities, including affirmative action is aptly provided for in the policies and laws of most countries. A major issue, however, is enforcement of the disability inclusive policies and laws. Focus on this area can provide better outcomes, especially in education and employment for people with disabilities.
Replicability: PROPEL’s success could be attributed to increased efforts to create linkages and synergies with youth employment projects. The project also had high levels of relevance to national development priorities by focusing on skills development, employment creation, labour market matching and poverty reduction. The more inclusive institutional framework for implementation of the project that involved government, disabled persons’ organizations, employers, trade unions, technical and vocational training institutions, universities, media and United Nations agencies facilitated development and exploitation of synergies, exchange of experiences and good practices. The PROPEL‘s approach of intervening in systems by actors rather than focusing on the ultimate beneficiaries at grassroots level alone is one of the issues that led to the success of the intervention and which can be replicated in other countries
References:
World Health Organization (2011). World Report on Disability, Malta
ILO (2015). Progress Report 2014: Irish Aid-ILO Partnership Programme 2012-2015, International Labour Organization
Project Details
Date: July 24, 2017