Nur-Sultan, August 18, 2021 - The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Kazakhstan, together with the United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV), held an online conference on the issues of professional rehabilitation of people with disabilities. The conference was attended by 64 participants, including representatives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Ministry of Labor), the Center for Professional Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, NGOs in the field of inclusion and persons with disabilities from other countries.

The event served as a platform for discussing issues of vocational rehabilitation of people with disabilities and ways to expand their employment opportunities.

Currently, around 705,000 people with different types of disabilities live in Kazakhstan. 430,000 of them belong to the category of working age. However, only a quarter of them are employed. According to the Ministry of Labor, in 2018 there were 1,609 University graduates with various degrees of disability. All of them experienced difficulties in finding employment.

The participants of the conference discussed the issues of stimulating employers to hire people with disabilities, subsidizing the organization of a workplace for people with disabilities and the features of professional rehabilitation of people with mental disabilities. In addition, it was proposed to replicate the experience of the Center for Vocational Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, established in the capital in 2019 with the support of the UNDP and the Ministry of Labor, in all regions of Kazakhstan. It is worth noting that since its creation, this Center has already employed almost 50 people with disabilities in various organizations.

During the conference, participants from other countries shared their experience of creating an inclusive working space for people with disabilities and their integration into society.

Madina Karsakpayeva, national UN volunteer,  a specialist of the UNDP Global Initiative to Support Talented Youth with disabilities, strongly believes that for people with disabilities job opportunity is the best way of social adaptation. "Such events at the level of international organizations like the UN with the involvement of state bodies can further increase the motivation of people with disabilities to find a job," she says.

The event promoted the exchange of experience in the professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and the creation of inclusive environment that will allow everyone to realize their potential by “leaving no one behind".