About the subject

People with disabilities make up about 15% of the world's population (World Disability Report), or more than 650 million people, with almost 500 million working age. Historically, even in the 21st century, people with disabilities are among the poorest in the world. According to the United Nations (UN), up to 82% of people with disabilities in less developed countries live below the poverty line. Their chances of getting out of poverty are hampered by many barriers and factors: physical and systemic barriers, negative social attitudes and lack of knowledge about the social nature of disability, lack of understanding of the importance of mainstreaming disability issues in all strategies and programs, and others. Unfortunately, for people with disabilities, this means limited opportunities to have equal access to quality education, skills development (including life skills, professional skills), employment and participation in public life.

In Turkmenistan, the transition from a planned economy to a market economy has brought about significant changes in the labor market and outdated strategies to protect the labor rights of people with disabilities, and left limited opportunities for economic activity of enterprises for persons with disabilities, based on artificially supported demand. Government order quotas were abolished and all businesses designed to employ persons with disabilities could not compete in this new economic environment. This meant a lack of ability to provide competitive professional skills for persons with disabilities, a lack of capacity to develop business plans for enterprises, partnerships, marketing strategies, etc. This also led to a gradual degradation and deterioration of equipment owned by disabled organizations, which led to even less competitiveness of educational and production enterprises and their inability to provide jobs for people with disabilities.

Turkmenistan signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) in 2008 and ratified its Optional Protocol in 2010. The government of Turkmenistan is demonstrating its commitment to advancing the human rights of people with disabilities by developing new, more inclusive policies and models. For example, the concept of inclusive education has recently been developed, the Social Protection Code (2011) has been amended to expand benefits and support systems for people with disabilities, work is underway to develop a national disability strategy and new employment models for people with disabilities are underway, and others.

The National Action Plan for Human Rights for 2015-2020, approved by the Resolution of the President of Turkmenistan dated January 15, 2016 in Part I: Economic, Cultural and Social Rights, in particular, provides for the following activities:

(11) Implement the provisions of the UN International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into the national legislation of Turkmenistan. Conduct a comparative legal analysis of laws;

(12) Implementation of inspections by the regulatory authorities of Turkmenistan on the implementation of the provisions of Chapter 24 of the Code of Turkmenistan "On social protection of the population" in terms of access of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups of the population to social infrastructure;

(13) Create an enabling environment for vulnerable groups of the population (elderly people, persons with disabilities, etc.) to access infrastructure;

(14) Development and introduction into educational programs of professional training courses for the needs of people with disabilities;

 (18) Elaboration of a procedure for establishing a quota for employers for the employment of citizens in particular need of social protection and not competitive citizens under equal conditions in the labor market, including disabled people.

According to the Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan (BDST), the main national partner of this project, the unemployment rate among people with visual and hearing impairments is more than 74%. OSGT is the main public organization on disability in the country and plays an important role in protecting the rights of persons with disabilities (people with visual, hearing and speech impairments), and contributes to their social and professional rehabilitation. OSGT, founded in 1932, has offices in all regions of Turkmenistan and is an active member of the Asian Union of the Blind (ACC) and the World Union of the Blind (WBU), and has over 3,000 members across the country.

About the project

Established at the enterprises of the Blind and Deaf Society of Turkmenistan (BDST), and the development of its organizational capacity, as well as the development of sustainable business plans and marketing strategies for OSGS enterprises to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities. BDST has 10 educational and production enterprises in various regions of Turkmenistan, which provide work for persons with disabilities. Only 409 out of 3,083 registered members of the BDST [1] (13%) work in these enterprises.

The project will strive to achieve the following expected results:

1. Enhancing the capacity of the BDST to assist its members to gain access to quality training and decent work;

2. Modernization and technical re-equipment of selected (three) BDST enterprises to meet the needs of people with disabilities in obtaining high-quality professional training (skills development) and decent work;

3. Plan of transformation of the selected by BDST into sustainable models of vocational training, supported employment and transition to employment in the open market for persons with disabilities;

[1] BDST data