Sunday 25 February 2018

Why Kenya has not been able to make major break through on employment of persons with disabilities! Jicho la tatu

One in ffifteen Kenyan lives with disability. This represents a vast pool of talent, which employers can tap into to enhance workplace diversity and overcome labour shortages. According to WHO 15 % of the population are persons with disabilities. And according to available KBS 1.4 million i.e 4.6 of the population are persons with disabilities. This has been disputed by various lobby groups in Kenya. what many Kenyans don't know is that the reality is that The likelihood of living with disability increases with age. After the establishment of the national council for persons with disabilities It became apparent that all challenges that persons with disabilities would be solved immediately. Of which this is not the truth. The national council of persons with disabilities is supposed to be a catalyst of ensuring that government and private sector adhere to the set disability standards. Has the NCPWD lived to its mandate that’s a debate for another day. Actually no policy guidelines have been developed to have a clear road map on how persons with disabilities can get the employment opportunities. Due to lack of technical and human capital at the NCPWD on this employment challenge. There are not well established service providers who could support a vital role in matching people with disability to jobs. JobAccess service providers can compliment with resources, expertise And also help people with disability find and keep jobs, get promoted to better jobs, upgrade or expand their workplace skills, and more. With the current status persons with disabilities do not have a say on what service they want. Persons with disabilities should be provided a platform where we can make more choices and have a say in job access. With my clear credentials and evidently being a victim of the system I know how employers have and are continueing to treat persons with disabilities. You can log on www.mugambipaul.com for more explicit experiences. What the NCPWD can do is conduct community engagement on job access.develop a strategic plan for the next 5 years which will address the employment gaps among persons with disabilities. They can also provide a grant application to job access service providers in different counties. This will help expand the realization of areas which persons with disabilities would be employed Its high time NCPWD stop being a service provider but a enabler of service providers so that persons with disabilities can be able to access different service. NCPWD should serve as a monitoring and evaluation agency of the governmen. as a professional in this area of disability and public policy I would say and proclaim the employers can benefit from having persons with disabilities on board. afew facts include: • Global research has found that when employee health and wellness is managed well the percentage of engaged employees increases from 7% to 55%. • People with disability are three times as likely to avoid an organisation and twice as likely to dissuade others because of an organisation's negative diversity reputation. with this not withstanding I note the importance of medium of communication to the public. of which Kenyan state organs are yet to embrace. for instance Disability discrimination accounts for the highest volume of complaints across the board to the Kenyan social media sites and no apparent Kenyan state organ is recording the available data of incidences. if the Data collected on the complains it can well inform policy guidelines and aid towards understanding what persons with disabilities deserve .maxmumly The day when this burden will be removed is the actual day when delivery of the potentials and dreams of many persons with disabilities will be realized. Actually, NCPWD can easily achieve the sustainable development goals and 2030 vision targets with this kind of approach I look forward to more fellow persons with disability securing meaningful and lasting employment. If these changes can be adapted they can complement the stronger support available to many people with disability through the Kenyan government disability mainstreaming agenda in its ranks. This is a reflection the Government’s ambition that people with disability are supported to achieve greater social and economic participation.

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