Social Inclusion and Employment

Kenya, Christine has poliomyelitis ; she now runs a small grocery store built for her as part of HI’s inclusive employment project in Kakuma refugee camp.

For more than 35 years, whether in emergency situations or contexts of chronic crisis or extreme poverty, HI has been helping people with disabilities and other vulnerable people along the road to inclusion or re-inclusion in their community.

142

projects led by HI in 2017
in 47 countries

461 176

beneficiaries
in the world

Our approach

This work focuses on four areas: access to education, economic inclusion, social inclusion, and support for civic participation.

Deeply rooted in local communities, our teams work alongside relevant local authorities and services, as well as Civil Society networks, including Disabled People’s Organisations.

They develop close links between mainstream services (such as social services, teachers, and actors in the employment sector), and specialist actors in order to improve the inclusion of people with disabilities and vulnerable people, whatever their specific needs or personalised projects. HI works to promote an inclusive governance of disability issues, and the full participation of people with disabilities in decisions that concern them.

Where we work

Fields of intervention

Start of intervention

Inclusive employment, an opportunity to build a brighter future

Our inclusive employment projects target disabled people and vulnerable people living in poverty who face limited livelihood prospects due to the disability related barriers they confront when preparing for, entering and performing in a job.

Our goal is to promote access to decent waged and self-employment, ensuring freedom, equality, security and dignity for these people. Our projects locally contextualize internationally renowned evidence-based economic development interventions, ensuring access to sustainable livelihood opportunities for persons with disabilities.

Supporting self-employment

Providing assistance to entrepreneurs to begin or scale up income generating economic activities through access to financial services (e.g. microfinance institutions, village saving and loan associations), professional or technical training courses, creation of market linkages, etc.

Increasing access to waged employment

Supporting disabled jobseekers to apply for and enter the workplace, and corporations who hire vulnerable people to ensure their businesses are systematically inclusive of disabled people and vulnerable people

Supporting mainstream economic development

Supporting mainstream economic development stakeholders to ensure their interventions are inclusive of disabled people, ultimately creating environments which encourage professional inclusion

Professional integration of vulnerable people

Sustainably pulling ultra-poor persons with disabilities, vulnerable people and their families (living on less than $1.25 USD per day) and their families out of poverty and into work using the disability-inclusive graduation model

Support for associations

Supporting disabled people’s organizations to advance the right to employment of people with disabilities and to provide assistance for inclusive national employment policies

Our professional inclusion projects allow people with disabilities and vulnerable people to develop income-generating activities. Partnerships with microfinance institutions and companies are also implemented to promote inclusive employment. This work is based on the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (articles 27 and 5) and the goals of access to a decent work for all (8th goal of the Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030).

Social inclusion for equal opportunities

HI works for the full social participation of vulnerable people, including people with disabilities1. Our social inclusion projects especially aim for deeply connected relationships, social development and empowerment of individuals, and enabling social environments conducive to full social participation. Our teams firstly rely on Social Work and promote social interventions within our organization, such as the Personalised Social Support process. Their work:
• Social development of individuals/groups and social cohesion of communities by “Living Together” (sports, games, cultural and leisure activities...)
• Implementation of social action facilities (IOLC2, support services, unique portal...)
• Quality Approach development
• Support to the definition and operationalization of social protection policies at local and national levels

INCLUSION TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Discover our service offer

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Discover our expertise

Contact us

For more information about our projects and our approach to livelihood

Francesca RANDAZZO
Manager Livelihood

f.randazzo@hi.org