"Employers to participate more in grants awarded for employment of PWDs"

Employers should participate more in the grants awarded for the employment of persons with disabilities (PWD), as well as adapt the work space for visually impaired people, it was assessed at the final conference of the Association of the Blind of Montenegro (SSCG).

The conference was organized within the project "Active way out of unemployment", which was financed by the Employment Institute of Montenegro.

The coordinator of the "Active way out of unemployment" project, Katarina Bigović, said that the project, whose goal was to create innovative jobs for PWDs, started on January 18, and will be completed on November 18.

"20 PWDs with impaired vision, who are unemployed from all over Montenegro, participated in this project. We chose these people in cooperation with our partners - the Organization of the Blind for Bijelo Polje and Mojkovac, which was the coordinator for the northern region, and the Organization of the Blind for Nikšić, Šavnik and Plužine, which was the coordinator for the central and southern regions," said Bigović in PR To the center.

According to her, six people from Bijelo Polje, one from Mojkovac, two from Beran, one each from Rožaj and Pljevlja, two from Nikšić, one from Kotor, one from Bar and five from Podgorica were involved in the project.

"We had two trainings - one to develop communication skills, and the other to work in the dispatch center of the taxi service. "After the training ended, ten of them had to be chosen who will be employed under a six-month employment contract," said Bigović.

As she specified, ten participants of the project were employed for half a year at Maxi taxis in Nikšić and Podgorica and Roller in Bijelo Polje.

She said that employers do not want to participate too much in the grants that have been awarded for the employment of PWDs.

"It is important that we, as NGOs dealing with PWDs, should participate in all this, but we need the help of employers and PWDs themselves," said Bigović.

The representative of the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, Aleksandra Popović, said that on the instructions of that department, which they sent to all administrative bodies, they received the information that 63 PWDs are employed within the state administrative bodies.

"It is a significant figure, but it is not enough, considering the total number of employees in state administration bodies. We hope that in the coming period that number will be significantly higher," said Popović.

She said that the Ministry adapted the work space for people with visual impairments, indicating that in this way they complied with the legal obligation from the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities.

"We put up an inscription in Braille, we made an orientation plan for movement in the Ministry, which is adapted for people with visual impairments. We urge other state administration bodies, guided by our example, to adapt their space to people with visual impairments," said Popović.

The director of the Employment Institute of Montenegro, Željko Savović, said that it is in the public interest for PWDs to be employed and that they should be provided with work.

"Surely there are private individuals who can accept PWDs, so that they can be useful members of society who will work," said Savović.

The executive director of SSCG, Goran Macanović, said that the project participants expressed interest in joining the project for various reasons.

"Not everyone was equally motivated. Someone came out of curiosity, and someone because they consider it an opportunity to find employment," he explained.

Macanović said that when they chose ten that they estimated should get employment for six months at the taxi dispatch center, they did not encounter the same level of responsibility there either.

"Someone realized after a few months that it is not something that fulfills them. "Also, we came across a situation where we realized that in many dispatch centers people with complete visual impairment or people with greater impairment cannot work, because the software used by taxi dispatchers is inaccessible," said Macanović.

He said that he would be surprised if out of 20 people who underwent training, and ten who worked for six months, one of them continued to work in the taxi dispatch center.

The project partner for the Northern Region, Mirsad Dlakić, believes that the quality of life of PWDs mostly depends on employment.

"Employment can only be achieved if PWDs, through their early development, receive quality education, in accordance with the needs of the labor market," said Dlakić.

The financial independence of PWID, as he assessed, leads to self-reliance and increases the quality of life in every area.