The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) opened the centre for employment and professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities in Kazakhstan. Meet two UN Community Volunteers in the project, each of whom shares a bright and unique personal story.
Within the framework of the joint project "Sustainable Development of the System of Social Protection of the Population: Promotion of Programmes on Social Integration and Inclusion," UNDP inaugurated a centre for employment and professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
This project is unique, as UN Community Volunteers with different expertise help the centre to find solutions from different angles and explore the needs and potential of people with disabilities. UN Community Volunteers usually have extensive connections in the field; in this case, among people with disabilities and their potential employers at the community level. In addition to their professional achievements, they can easily find a common language with everyone and act as part of the given environment. They are always ready to flag issues of the community.
With the support of UN Community Volunteers, the team provides individual plans for project beneficiaries' further rehabilitation, training and employment.
Ainash Imangaliyeva, UN Community Volunteer Legal Advocate, engages with persons with disabilities and their employers. She advocates subsidizing the workplace, quoting the participation of people with disabilities in projects and tax benefits for the employer. She also actively works on documentation.
On the first page of her notebook, she wrote, 'human rights mean freedom and equality for all before the law'. For her, working in the centre enables her to fulfil her motivation to achieve socially significant advances.
Each client of the center has a special path to get employed. This includes initial acquaintance, work with psychologists, career guidance sessions, selection of a potential job, employment and the following support – all provided by UN Community Volunteers.
Speaking of the work with clients, it is important to highlight the high professionalism and dedication of UN Community Volunteer Counsellor Diana Beisova.
Having been working in the field for many years, she conducts interviews and sessions for the center's clients and their families, as well as individual consultations and art therapy sessions. In addition, during the quarantine period, Diana has conducted training for peer volunteers.
The centre focuses on working with people with the most serious disabilities. In fact, many applicants did not have the opportunity to find stable jobs, as they could not apply due to medical and social limitations in their past. Through a comprehensive approach providing comfortable consultations and conversations, and avoiding the medical and diagnostic narrative, UN Volunteers are trying to support clients in accessing opportunities.
All the UN Community Volunteers working with the centre's clients have strong motivations to work on promoting the rights of people with disabilities. They use their accumulated knowledge in the field of family support and learn new things every day to help this vulnerable category of people.