International charity starts initiative to link PWDs to jobs

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Light for the World, a global disability NGO has started a career fair to link graduates living with various forms of disabilities to employment. This follows a survey that found out that less than 15% of PWDs practice their professions even when they excel in school.

Dr. Ambrose Murangira, the Thematic Director, Disability Inclusion at the organization says the idea of a career fair started last year when they invited people with disabilities to interact with a number of corporate companies among others their capabilities. In the end, he says all the 30 disabled graduates that participated got connected to employers.

Murangira who speaks with help of an interpreter asked corporate companies to embrace disability inclusion in the human resource manuals by making adjustments at workplaces that accommodate all categories of people. He cited the need of putting in place ramps in buildings to ease access for those with physical disabilities and computers with bigger fonts for those with vision problems.

Douglas Opiyo, the Executive Director, Federation of Uganda Employers says that they started finding placements for PWDs when they started receiving complaints that many of them resign to working for disability organizations or stay home even though they are as competent as their normal counterparts because the level of information is low.

He says they have now given employers under the federation a target of reserving 5% of the slots at the workplace for competent people living with disabilities.

Commenting about whether the ground is leveled for all job seekers, Shamim Walusimbi, a recruitment consultant says increasingly with job applications and interviews being conducted online, the disabled need to put in more effort to prove themselves.

However, Brenda Bonabana a Business Administration Graduate who works for an Albinism umbrella organization says a lot of awareness needs to be done on the employers’ side for them to compete favorably.

She says even when applications are done online and she is shortlisted, things fail after showing up for physical interviews partly because of fear of extra costs if one is to employ a disabled person.

According to UBOS statistics, up to 12% of Ugandans live with a form of disability.

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