Background

It is well known that the estimated 650 million people with disabilities in the world are among the poorest of the poor. They face discrimination and multiple barriers to accessing education, training and employment related to attitudinal, communication, architectural and other barriers. They are disproportionately unemployed and underemployed and many are so discouraged that they fail to seek training or employment. Women and girls with disabilities are even more at risk of poverty and exclusion than their non-disabled peer or men with disabilities and the scant data that is available demonstrates their lower socioeconomic status.

Decent work for disabled persons is far from a reality for the estimated 370 million who are of working age. Yet we know that when disabled persons are given a chance to develop skills and start small businesses or work in formal settings, they make excellent employees or small business operators. This has been evidenced by employers in Sri Lanka who have been willing to give people with disabilities their rightful opportunity to access jobs and to contribute to the workplace. For years now, the Employers Federation of Ceylon has been working through its Employers Network on Disability to promote the training and hiring of disabled persons. They have found the needs for skills training for disabled persons to be a critical issue for their transition into the workplace.

On two occasions a delegation from Sri Lanka has participated in the ILO/Korea Fellowship programme. This included the first programme on policy development and a later fellowship training on job placement. In both instances a delegation from the government, employers, trade unions (were only represented at the second event) and the disabled persons’ organization participated.

For more than 5 years, the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) has operated the Employers’ Network on Disability, an initiative designed to increase awareness about the abilities of people with disabilities and to promote their employment and training so they are able to meet the labour force needs of the country.

The EFC Network has been successful in raising awareness, in tapping into employers’ sense of social responsibility and educating employers about the business case for hiring disabled workers. Job fairs have resulted in the direct hiring of disabled persons by participating employers. Companies like Sri Lankan Airlines, Standard Charter and Nestle have engaged in special awareness activities directed to employers and the general public on dispelling negative attitudes and promoting accessibility. Smaller employers such as ID Lanka and CEI Plastics have been leaders in integrating disabled persons into their workplaces, as well as some of Sri Lanka’s larger and multinational companies, such as MAS Holdings and John Keels.

In its work the EFC has noted that it is increasingly difficult to identify disabled persons who have the necessary skills to meet the needs of the workplace. At the same time, the government is aware of the need to address the skill deficiencies of socially excluded groups such as women, disabled persons and others. It has organized two groups to address the training of disabled persons, one in the Ministry of Labour and Manpower and the other in the Ministry of Technical and Vocational Training. Additionally, a delegation from the Ministry of Labour met with the Senior Specialist on Disability Inclusion in Geneva during the International Labour Conference to request assistance with regard to getting employers more involved in the training and employment needs of disabled persons.

Disability is a cross cutting theme covering all 3 outcomes of the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) of Sri Lanka, the follow up activities will be taken under outcome 2, (Enhanced labour administration and promotion of equitable employment practices) within the roadmap that would be developed for the implementation of the National Plan of Action for Decent Work.

Purpose and Objectives

The Employers’ Federation and other Sri Lanka participants to prior fellowships witnessed the progress made by the Korean Employment Promotion Agency for the Disabled (KEPAD) in the training of disabled persons and the engagement of employers in the process. This progress and the training approaches used by KEPAD have direct relevance to the challenges faced by the government and employers in upgrading the skills of disabled persons so that they qualify and can contribute to the current workplace labour needs. The purpose of this fellowship is to give a delegation from Sri Lanka an opportunity to look more closely at the unique approaches that KEPAD has utilized, in collaboration with the business community, to result in the training and hiring of people with disabilities.

The objectives of the bilateral fellowship training and study tour are to:

• Increase knowledge and awareness among participants about the training methodologies that can be used to increase the skills of disabled persons.
• Highlight the workplace and employer-driven approaches used in Korea, such as customized training, on-the-training and supported employment that Sri Lanka can use to meet its own challenges in preparing disabled workers for employment.
• Share information about policies that encourage the workplace training of people with disabilities and the involvement of large and small employers in the training and hiring of disabled persons.

Participants

Participants should include representatives from the following:

• Employers Federation of Ceylon, Employers’ Network on Disability (3)
• Employers, especially smaller employers how lack the resources to sponsor themselves to attend (1)
• Ministry of Labour and Manpower (2)
• Ministry of Technical and Vocational Training (1)
• Ministry of Social Welfare (1)
• The disabled persons organization (1)
• Trade union representative (1)

Topics

• Introduction to KEPAD and its policy framework with particular emphasis on skills development and employer involvement
• Visit to a KEPAD training institution
• Explanation of initiatives with large and small employers
• Description and examples of customized training, on-the-job training and supported employment
• Visits to 3-4 employers to illustrate the different models
• Action planning