DRPI AWARE
The Asian Workplace Approach that Respects Equality (AWARE) project builds on the work of Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI), which is working to establish a holistic and sustainable global system to monitor the human rights of people with disabilities. AWARE uses this holistic approach to identify and address the barriers people with disabilities experience when trying to participate in the labour force in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Through understanding the systemic reasons for the under-employment and unemployment of people with disabilities in these three nations, we will partner with employers to improve employment prospects for people with disabilities.
Ashrafun Nahar Misti, a participant in the 2011 Asia Pacific Disability Rights Monitoring Training in Asia Pacific
According to World Health Organization projections (2011), there are 208 million people with disabilities living in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, the vast majority of whom live in conditions of poverty and isolation. This profound poverty can be explained in part because women and men with disabilities experience significantly lower employment rates than women and men without disabilities. Promoting the employment of people with disabilities increases the economic well-being of their households and communities, as well as the performance of labour markets.
AWARE is a collaborative five-year project that will focus on three sectors: hospitality; food processing; and entrepreneurship or self-employment. AWARE uses a multi-pronged strategy to improve labour-market participation of people with disabilities:
- Documenting best practices and systemic labour market, socio-cultural and sector-specific barriers, so as to better understand the economic opportunities of working age women and men with various types of disabilities.
- Improving the effectiveness of labour markets by impacting the decision-making of small and medium enterprises in the hiring and promotion of people with disabilities.
- Providing labour market skills for women and men with disabilities to maximize their capacity to make economic contributions.
This multi-pronged approach maximizes employment and sustainability outcomes. This enables the AWARE project to bring about positive changes at the individual level for people with disabilities, as well as for employers, the labour market and society more broadly.
AWARE will work primarily in urban areas of the three target countries - Dhaka, Bangladesh; Hyderabad, India and Kathmandu, Nepal. The project embraces collaboration with local disabled people’s organizations, employers, government officials, and other stakeholders, and has strong support from grassroots organizations in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. AWARE builds on the recommendations from local, national and international initiatives tackling employment barriers faced by persons with disabilities.
We would like to acknowledge the support of Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and York University in this project.
