Project background

Decent work is the ILO's primary goal for everyone, including persons with disabilities. The ILO has worked for over 50 years to promote skills development and employment opportunities for people with disabilities based on the principles of equal opportunity, equal treatment, mainstreaming into vocational rehabilitation. Despite progress in promoting disability rights, persons with disabilities still face discrimination and barriers to full participation in social, economic, political and cultural life. Of an estimated 1 billion people with disabilities, at least 750 million are of working age. They have less access to skills training, are more likely to be unemployed or earn less than non-disabled people, especially if they are women. Also, many work in the unprotected, informal economy.

Since 2001, the ILO-Irish Aid Partnership Programme has worked in selected countries of South East Asia and East and Southern Africa to promote decent work and a better life for people with disabilities through enabling legal and policy environments, and by providing entrepreneurship development training and access to related services, with a particular emphasis on women with disabilities. The programme has also promoted the inclusion of persons with disabilities alongside non-disabled people in programmes and services relating to employment promotion and economic and social development.

Indonesia has in 1999 ratified the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention 1958 (No. 111). Nevertheless, it has yet to ratify the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled persons) Convention (No. 159). In October 2011, Indonesia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The ratification of the UN convention, which promotes the equal treatment of disabled people, is an important step towards improving rights for disabled people. People with disabilities are recognised as among the most vulnerable groups in Indonesia, facing discrimination in access to education, skills training and employment. Current legislation - the Act of the Republic of Indonesia Number 4/1997 concerning Disabled People, and its implementing regulation, Government Regulation No. 43/1998 - focuses on social welfare provisions. While a quota system is in place to promote employment opportunities in the open labour market, regulations have not been adopted to give effect to this requirement, with the result that it has not been implemented.

In the current phase of the global Partnership Programme (2012-13), Promoting Rights and Opportunities for People with Disabilities in Employment through Legislation (PROPEL – Indonesia) will support the Government of Indonesia and other key stakeholders to address barriers to equal employment opportunities, and promote disability inclusion.

Project strategy

Improving Policy and Legal Frameworks

PROPEL-Indonesia aims at to support the addressing of gaps in policy and legislative protection on employment and training of persons with disability to ensure they are consistent with international standards. Support will be given through provision of technical advice and support to the government, in consultation with key stakeholder; through national and provincial level workshops to consider the findings of a review to be commissioned and deciding on action required; and through technical assistance in follow-up to these workshops, to give effect to the decisions taken.

Building capacity of Constituents

PROPEL-Indonesia aims to build capacity of key stakeholders in Government, trade unions, employers’ organization, and civil society organizations, at national and provincial (district) levels. In order to enhance the understanding of rights of persons with disabilities concerning employment and training, as well as the provisions of the UNCRPD and the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled persons) Convention (No. 159), capacity building will be done through national and provincial trainings and workshops.

Supporting advocacy and awareness-raising

PROPEL-Indonesia will support advocacy and awareness-raising activities targeting the general public, and key stakeholders, such as media, training centers, recruitment and placement agencies, and civil society organizations, at both national and provincial levels.

As media plays a crucial role in shaping mind-sets of the general public, for effective awareness raising and advocacy of disabled people’s rights, PROPEL-Indonesia will seek to build capacity and raise awareness of representatives of media. Moreover, in efforts to raise awareness of disability rights among students and future law practitioners, the project will facilitate the incorporation of disability legislation into the law curriculum of a leading university to and provide support to encourage a disability-related research among law students and staff.

Formulated project outputs:

• Supporting review and revision of national laws on disability concerning employment and training opportunities;
• Finalization of the situation analysis of persons with disabilities, including analysis on barriers to skills and vocational training opportunities for persons with disabilities;
• Publishing of current ILO reports, publications and tools on disability inclusion in Bahasa Indonesia;
• Completion of workshops and trainings for Constituents and major stakeholders on non-discrimination and equal job opportunities for persons with disabilities, on national and provincial level;
• Dissemination of user friendly and practical guidelines in Bahasa Indonesia to support Constituents’ on disability management in employment for persons with disabilities;
• Supporting representatives of media for a shift to a right-based approach in media portrayal with articles featuring rights of persons with disabilities; and
• Assistance for incorporating disability laws into faculty curriculum in at least one of the leading universities in Indonesia.

Key partners

• Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration
• Ministry of Social Affairs
• Workers and Employers Organizations
• Disabled People’s Organization
• Universities
• Mass Media