UNDP in Ukraine

Duratioт: September 2008 - September 2010

"Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities through Access to Employment" is a joint project by UNDP and ILO in Ukraine.

People with disabilities represent one of the biggest vulnerable groups in Ukraine, which amounts to around 2,5 million people or 5,2% of the whole population. The Soviet Union strove to present the image of a healthy society by segregating people with disabilities.

Ukraine inherited this system, which still segregates people with disabilities to the point where they are rarely seen in public.

For decades the rehabilitation system focused mainly on medical rehabilitation, leaving out many aspects of social and vocational rehabilitation. People with disabilities were as a rule employed at specialized closed and subsidized enterprises, which contributed to their further isolation from the rest of society. The negative consequences of the transition period affected people with disabilities more than other social groups. It is quite difficult for them to gain a foothold in the labour market. Currently, only 13% of people with disability in the working age are employed.

The difficulties that people with disabilities face in obtaining jobs can be explained in several ways, these include:

low access of people with disabilities to the labour market caused, for example, by gap between their education and qualifications and labour demand; limited number of vacancies opened for disabled jobseekers, and lack of specialized placement services and working places for them;

lack of sound institutional mechanism for employment of people with disabilities; inefficiency of cooperation between the Public Employment Service, Fund for Social Protection of People with Disabilities, vocational and training rehabilitation centres, employers and people with disabilities themselves, as well as other stakeholders; lack of motivation of employers to employ people with disabilities;

low degree of job search of persons with disabilities, because of discouragement, relatively low level of wages, disbelief in the effectiveness of employment services; shortcomings of vocational training provided to people with disabilities, etc.

What is our Mission?

The overall objective of the Project is to facilitate a proactive inclusion of people with disabilities in the open labour market in order to safeguard their equal rights and opportunities. This will contribute to poverty reduction, since people with disabilities often have the lowest revenues, and use their capacity as a macroeconomic resource of the labour force. Furthermore, this will in its turn contribute to the sustainable economic growth of the country.

The specific Project objective is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Public Employment Service and its partners in provision of employment of people with disabilities.

How is the Project carried out?

The Programme is implemented by the following activities:

1. Development, piloting and dissemination of an effective model on provision of employment of people with disabilities.
2. Improvement, piloting and dissemination of methodology for Public Employment Service and its partners on provision of employment of people with disabilities.
3. Providing recommendation for harmonization of national legislation regarding employment of people with disabilities in Ukraine in accordance with international standards and best practices in selected countries.
4. Enhancement of the capacities of the Public Employment Service and its partners' staff to provide services to disabled jobseekers.
5. Improvement of the system of monitoring of employment of people with disabilities.
6. Enhancement of public awareness and changed public perception of people with disabilities with regard to the open labour market.

Project's partners:

National Executing Agency: Public Employment Service, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine.

National Project Director: Volodymyr Galytsky, Director of the Public Employment Service, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Ukraine

UN executing agencies: UNDP and ILO.

The project's budget is USD 290,000.

Donors:

UNDP, ILO.