Partner: Australian Embassy, Kathmandu (Under Direct Aid Program 2014-15)

Project Coordinator: Sagar Prasai

The main objective of this project is to promote the accessibility & employment of persons with disabilities in Nepal. To obtain the main objective, this project has some specific objectives as mentioned below:

1. Refurbish the office building of NFDN in Bhikutimandap Kathmandu,
2. Prepare the employer handbook on hiring the persons with disabilities,
3. Establish the peer to peer employment counseling center in NFDN

Activities to be carried out under Project/Program

1. Hiring of Architect to plan and design the accessibility of NFDN building.
2. Renovation of office building from the prospective of standard rules of accessibility guideline,
3. Build the male & female bathrooms inside the office building that will be accessible for persons with & without disabilities,
4. Prepare & share the blue prints, pictures and videos of our accessible offices and toilets so that it will stand as a model for others those who want to replicate them in their business and organization.
5. Preparation of the Employers Handbook on hiring persons with disabilities by covering some issues on it such as reasonable accommodations, inclusive work setting, equal pay, person’s first language, Discuss the business case of disability employment and differentiate it from the charity model of disability & so on.
6. To establish a peer to peer employment counselling centre at NFDn where:
7. People with different kind of disability can come in and get counselling on searching jobs, building CVs and giving interviews.
8. People with disabilities can get post job assistance like negotiating with the employer about reasonable accommodations and other accessibility factors.
9. Get different skills development trainings occasionally needed for getting jobs.
10. A Program will be organized to publish the employer’s guideline book.
11. Media demonstration of accessibility of NFDN office.

The Expected Outcomes of the projects are:

1. Our existing office building will be refurbished in the line of accessibility guidelines formulated by government of Nepal,
2. Our refurbished office building will be established as a good model of accessibility to be replicated on different business houses, institutions & so on,
3. A handbook for employers on hiring persons with disabilities will be in place that will help employers to give more jobs to people with disabilities with proper knowledge about them.
4. People with disabilities will be benefitted from monthly employment related skills that will boost up their confidence in searching and preparing for jobs.
5. Monthly peer to peer counselling will be help people with disabilities to discuss the problems and challenges of getting jobs with people like them and help to formulate a document that will eventually go to various stakeholders in Government and non-government and help in policy making.

in Partnership with:  CBM Nepal

NFDN is currently working on the project entitled “Mainstream age and disability in relief, early recovery and reconstruction process in worst earthquake affected districts of Nepal” together with its partner organization.

The project aims to include older people and person with disabilities from 10 VDCs of 3 districts (Kavrepalanchok, Makwanpur, Sindhupalchok) in the specific program of mainstream organization who are working in humanitarian response after massive earthquake of April 25th, 2015. In emergencies, older people and persons with disabilities are among the most at risk because of they experience increased difficulties due to separation from family, loss of assistive and mobility devices, and difficulties with accessing information and humanitarian relief. The situation is compounded by pre-existing cultural and social discrimination. Humanitarian organizations are categorized as the cluster system of United Nations.

NFDN, being a local coordinating partner, has been implementing the research project entitled “National survey on living condition among individuals with disabilities in Nepal” since first May, 2014 with partnership of Sintef/FFO Norway. This survey is being conducted in the joint ownership and involvement of Government, Disabled Peoples’ Organizations and other relevant stakeholders. Covering 100 clusters within 59 districts throughout the country, 4000 households: 2000 households with disabilities & 2000 households without disabilities, for comparative study, will be visited for data collection. By 31th December 2015, Not only a perfect report on this survey will be placed but also with the support of information about actual status of the persons with disabilities, governmental as well as nongovernmental agencies shall get certain clear cut & governing guidelines/direction on the different issues of people with disabilities which may support those who are in decision making level too.

The project with USAID/IFES “Developing leadership and increasing electoral participation of persons with disabilities in Nepal” was launched from April, 2013 in the mid and far-western regions (6 Districts: Banke, Bardiya, Dang, Kailai, Kanchanpur and Dadeldhura) of Nepal. The project focuses to capacitate and mobilize associations and groups of persons with disabilities, so they will be able to understand and exercise their civic, political and electoral rights. The project activities are implemented in 120 VDCs of 6 districts by the 6 DPOs. Beside this, at the national level, NFDN works in close coordination with ECN for developing disability friendly electoral procedure.