This piece was published at the end of January/beginning of February 2018 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times
I have been spending some
weeks away from Kathmandu visiting my family back in Milan and I took this
visit as a great opportunity to network locally with some interesting realities
working at the intercross between social inclusion, development and corporate
social responsibility, CSR.
One of the organizations
I met with is Sodalitas, a membership
based organization whose Latin name means “solidarity” in English set up by Assolombarda, the umbrella entity
representing business groups in Lombardy of which Milan is the capital.
Obviously Sodalitas has
been embracing the CSR sector but in a very interesting way, working as a
bridge and enabler connecting its members with a variety of not for profits
organizations, working hard to create synergies and new understanding.
The outcomes are a great
variety of initiatives and projects jointly implemented by Sodalitas, its
members and the not for profit sector.
One of the greatest areas
of work has been work inclusion and fight to the unemployment as Italy has been
facing a tough economic crisis together with many other European countries, a
situation that only now is getting better.
Within this area, what
most struck me was a project called Inclusive
Mindset that is focused on fostering the employability of youths living
with disabilities in the country, supporting, on the one hand, private
companies to gain knowledge and a new understanding of disability and social
inclusion and, on other hands, helping youths with disabilities to get
connected with job opportunities.
The project has not only
been running Inclusive Job Fairs matching demand and supply but also it has
been investing on training and capacity building through the “Inclusive Mindset Academy”, a learning facility.
The Academy not only offers
a learning pathway for business executives about social inclusion but also acts
as a discussion forum where HR managers can share their best practices with all
the challenges and complexities related.
In short Inclusive Mindset that
has been funded and run by Sodalitas,
Fondazione Adecco per le Pari Opportunità, e INNPRONTA offers the
opportunity to create an interest on a difficult and complex matter as the
links between social inclusion and employability.
Creating a momentum is a
precondition to set in motion a drive for action: first of all we need to
demystify many misconceptions and false myths about disability.
What is needed is to have
the right attitude and open mind to learn and realize that social inclusion
among the job force is a moral imperative that can also makes economic sense
for a business.
The fact that Inclusive
Mindset has been very active in
sharing best practices and case studies is really key in changing mindsets,
showcasing that positive changes in the work practices are possible and can
benefit the company as well as the employees who start appreciating the value
of diversity within the work force.
The funders and
organizers are complementary to each other, bringing on board different levels
of expertise: with Sodalitas acting
as “playmaker” and facilitator, Fondazione
Adecco per le Pari Opportunità, the social arm of the human resource giant Adecco putting its own technical knowhow
and with INNPRONTA, an innovative communication agency, working on the
“pitch”, offering the key message to bring around corporations.
Obviously
the legislative framework is also supporting such initiative as in Italy like
in all other member nations of the European Union, private sector entities of a
certain dimension have to take action to hire persons with disabilities.
In Nepal few years ago
the Association of International NGOs,
AIN, the network representing all the international not for profits, has been
promoting, thanks to the strong interest by some of its members on the issue,
two Job Fairs. Obviously organizing job fairs alone is not enough as most of
the times, is very hard to turn such events into real employment opportunities.
Having organized such
events was itself a great achievement for Nepal even if the job opportunities
created were very few, something that can backfire by discouraging youths with
disabilities from seeking employment within the private sector.
This was also the
learning of Inclusive Mindset and
that’s why the learning dimension is really a pre-condition for successful
action to improve social inclusion in the job market.
Indeed, the truly
innovative aspect of Inclusive Mindset has
been the capacity building and learning offered, free of cost, to all the
private corporations involved in the cycle of classroom based learning that is
interactive, practical and based on real case studies.
Employment
opportunities for youths with disabilities in Nepal will not materialize
overnight, it will take time but we need to start slow and with small and
incremental steps.
Having
a bunch of local corporates attending workshops and debate forums will be a
huge step towards a stronger and fairer workforce in Nepal.
Taking
the long way in learning social inclusion can be more impactful than shorter
term actions, no matter how noble in their intents.
International
not for profits, perhaps bilateral and multilateral donor agencies should be
part of a partnership that have private companies in the driving seat together
with organizations run by persons with disabilities that themselves need
training and capacity building on the issue.
The
Author is Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a local NGO partnering with youths with
physical disabilities. You can contact him at simone_engage@yahoo.com
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