Publication Date
2008
Abstract
Through its standards and advocacy work, the International Labour Organization
(ILO) has long advocated equality of opportunity and treatment for
persons with disabilities and their inclusion in programmes and services
open to the general population, in particular through the ILO Convention
concerning the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled
Persons, 1983 (No. 159). This ILO mandate has been given renewed impetus
following the entry into force of the United Nations (UN) Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in May 2008. Effective and
meaningful inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream activities is
now increasingly an expectation of national policies, programmes, services
and activities targeting the general population, as well as in UN agency
programmes and technical assistance projects.
Until now, most programmes and projects have worked with people with
disabilities in isolation, separately from the main thrust of activity. At the
same time most mainstream initiatives have not considered the inclusion of
people with disabilities in any meaningful way. With the greater emphasis
now on including disabled people in general programmes and projects,
managers, staff and partners of the ILO and other UN agencies are likely to
need more information on how to mainstream effectively. The Count Us In!
guidelines aim to meet that need. They are designed, in the first instance, for
enterprise development specialists, as well as those involved in management
and planning in this field, to enable them to include persons with
disabilities in general entrepreneurship training and services on an equal
basis with others. They also contain practical advice for disability specialists
in their activities to promote entrepreneurship and improve livelihood.
These guidelines, developed during a project funded by Irish Aid, are the first
in a series of practical advice to be made available to ILO Employment
Sector specialists and more broadly, with a view to making it possible for
them to meet the goals of equal opportunity and treatment of disabled
persons, to advance the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and to contribute to the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Acknowledgements are
due to Maureen Gilbert who prepared the guidelines in consultation with
Barbara Murray, Senior Disability Specialist, ILO Geneva and Grania Mackie,
Regional Technical Advisor, Women’s Entrepreneurship and Gender Equality
(WEDGE) project, ILO Addis Ababa, with valuable comments by Debra Perry
while she was Senior Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist in ILO Bangkok.
The contribution of Claire-Pascale Gentizon in preparing the manuscript is
also acknowledged.
