PRESS RELEASE THE ‘ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAMME’ - YEAR III -
A partnership between LPHU and FS

Unlocking potential job opportunities for people with disabilities
in the Bekaa region

Bar Elias (Bekaa Valley), June 6 – July 2, 2005

Background1
Among the most exposed groups to poverty are disabled people and their families, as the high rate of disabled unemployment shows. According to a study undertaken in 1996 by the Ministry of Social Affairs , in Lebanon only 17% of disabled of working age actually work, against an international percentage of 30% and the economic trend shows that this percentage is getting lower.
This exclusion of disabled people from the labour market is due to multiple causes:
• Lack of facilities in working places
• No access to education
• No access to vocational rehabilitation programs
• Cultural and social obstacles
• Lack of experience in both public and private sectors


The Project
For the third year in a row, the ‘Saradar IT Programme’ (SITP) collaborates with the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU) to promote the right of disabled people to access information and acquire the necessary skills to achieve better living conditions. This year, the ‘Accessibility Programme’ is inscribed in a wider initiative undertaken by the LPHU: “The creation of a job centre to act as a facilitator for job seekers with disability (…) that aims at creating a real and concrete help-desk for matching job offers with demands from the private sector. A pilot project launched by this association to “respond to the challenges and the needs that people with disability face in the exercise of their own rights of social and economic integration and the right for a sustainable livelihood”. Because “managing a diverse work force is increasingly recognized as a key factor in improving efficiency, productivity and overall business success, globalisation has accelerated and reinforced the need to embrace diversity. A highly significant element of the diversity debate is disability.”3

• A gender perspective
There is a strong gender component of underemployment among the disabled. Although women graduates of care institutions (specialised for people with disabilities) have higher levels of educational attainment than men, they are less likely to be employed. Only 35 percent of women were employed, compared to 52 percent of men. Disabled women face double discrimination in the Lebanese labour market.
Due to this double discrimination that women with disabilities face, the project will be targeting women with disability as well as ensuring their participation and equal opportunity in the work place; specific measures needed to meet women's needs would be taken into consideration.


• An IT training programme
The ‘Saradar IT Programme’ constitutes one of the capacity-building activities of this wider project. It will ensure the adequate IT training for people with disabilities. During a period of 4 weeks, the Saradar caravan will be stationing at LPHU Bar Elias office, providing 48 disabled persons, aged 14 to 44 from neighbouring villages and towns - Bar Elias, Bouarej, el Dalhamiyeh, Jdita, Jlala, Hosh al Harimeh, I’ta al Fakkhar, Majd el Anjar, el Marj, Qab Elias, Saadnayel, Shmestar, as Soueyra, Taalabaya & Taanayel - with a 30-hour training course enabling them to undertake administrative and financial office tasks in small and medium size enterprises.
A professional training will include technical update and market-responding skills will cut the vicious circle which people with disabilities are captured into. In the era of globalisation and technology communication, a curriculum with the appropriate capacities to work (administrative and financial office tasks) is a pre-requisite to be employed in a small or medium size company. A proper background of knowledge and skills will thus allow people with disabilities, mainly youth, to increase their self-confidence in responding to any job announcement.
The training programme includes: Microsoft Windows XP, Word XP, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook Express & Internet, as well as writing CVs and preparing the participants for job interviews.
Upon completion of the 30-hour course, trainees will be entitled to a certificate delivered by Formatech, a certified training centre.


• A Tri-sector Partnership: the Civil Society, the Private Sector & the Media
Thanks to the active collaboration of non-governmental organizations, to the involvement of private enterprises in community development and to the engagement of the media in promoting social issues, a durable and an efficient partnership was established and has grown over the years to pursue and consolidate our common objectives: to achieve a ‘society for all’ founded on equal rights, social integration and economic prosperity.

Implementing this 2005 edition of the Accessibility Programme for the third year in a row would not have been possible without the unfailing commitment and generous contribution of “Social and Economic Action for Lebanon – SEAL” and the invaluable support of partners, such as An-Nahar, Bankers Assurance, Formatech, IDM, The Daily Star, Libairie Halim, L’Orient-Le Jour, Quantech-IBM and Sannine.



For more information please contact:

“ LPHU ” : Ms. Sylvana Lakkis 01-307366/5 lphu@inco.com.lb http://www.lphu.com

“ Fondation Saradar ” : Mrs. Tania Helou 01-339012 fondation@saradar.org http://fondation.saradar.org