Questions/Answers

In 2016, there were 1.9 million persons with disabilities in Thailand. Among those, 760,000 were of working age (aged 15-60) consisting of 203,117 employed (27%), 423,650 nemployed (56%), and 129,981 unable to work (17%). According to the Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act 2007 (the Act), organizations are required to hire person with disabilities in the ratio of one disabled person to 100 regular employees which meant 61,612 disabled persons should have been employed. The problems are the compensation of an employed disable person is only two thirds of a regular employee’s and there are some other limitations e.g. individual capacity does not match organization’s requirements, commuting inconvenience, employers are not ready to adjust their organization environment to suit disabled persons. Hence, only 3% of disabled persons have been hired in organizations, leaving thousands of capable disable persons unemployed. Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth) along with the Social Innovation Foundation (SIF) have developed an innovative approach of hiring persons with disabilities for social works as an alternative way for organizations to hire capable disabled persons. This can enable career opportunities, helping them to earn income and be self-reliant. It also provide disable persons a sense of value and self-worthiness, being proud of themselves and preserving their dignity in being hired to work for communities. The community work hiring is done via a local coordinating unit (Node)’s mechanism rather than a regular hiring for the organization alone.

This innovative way to create jobs for persons with disabilities aligns perfectly to delivering inclusive and equitable services for all because it provides the work-capable disabled people, one of the vulnerable populations in society, an access to quality and fair employment for the communities through the collaboration with government agencies in amending related laws, with organizations in welcoming disabled persons as employees, and with communities in searching for disabled persons and finding suitable jobs in communities for them.

Goal 1. End Poverty. This innovation can assist persons with disabilities and their families to have income, reliable job, and be self-reliant, which can help to reduce severe poverty in society. This is achieved by providing pertinent supports to disabled persons towards being employed and be able to have sustainable careers. Goal 8. Decent work and Economic Growth. This innovation brought the policy that promotes employers to hire persons with disabilities (i.e. the Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act 2007) into effective implementation according to the intent of the law. This lends itself to more efficient and fair employment of capable workforce and thus can lead to more national productivity and economic growth. Goal 10. Reduce Inequalities. This innovation helps the country reduce social inequality as it provides the work-capable persons with disabilities, one of the vulnerable populations in society, an access to quality and fair employment. In addition it allows them to work in nearby communities without the need to migrate or move to unfamiliar environments, enhancing the chance of sustainable careers.

Towards sustainability, this innovation focuses on developing pertinent knowledge and replicable tools (e.g. manual for hiring person with disabilities for organization); building multi-sectoral network for promoting and supporting quality of life of disabled persons; developing a practical model of local coordinating unit to lead and support disabled persons to earn income, live independently, commute conveniently, be self-reliant, and have a good quality of life; preparing hiring organizations (ie. employers and colleagues) to understand and accommodate disabled persons at work; and lastly, encouraging people in communities to have positive attitude towards and realize the value and capacity of disabled persons.

If disabled persons are employed and get support for their careers, they will be able to earn income, be self-reliant, and have better quality of life. The persons who take care of disabled persons will be less burdened, earns more income, and have a better quality of life as well. The community and organization will also get advantages from the job done by disabled persons (directly and indirectly). The government can also divert resources that would have been used for this group to help other disadvantaged people in society, helping to improve social equity and thus leaving no one behind. To develop disabled persons’ quality of life in the long term, we work with the government agencies that directly responsible for developing quality of life, the “public health organizations” to employ disabled persons in district hospitals for at least 700 people. We promote the employment of disabled persons as one of the urgent targets in Pracharath Policy for Society E6 (the national collaboration of public, private, and civil society geared towards the strength, balance, and sustainability of local economy)

We promote the employment of all persons with disabilities regardless of their gender, and place importance on the equality in recruiting persons with disabilities.

From 2014 to 2016, the total of 32,617 persons with disabilities were employed, an increase of 4,119 people (13.45%) from 2013. This project gained support from many private organizations to hire disable persons even though the amended law had not been 100% enacted at that time because they saw the benefits that disabled persons and their organizations will gain. At policy level, we advocated government and related agencies to support the employment of the disabled. In 2018, the Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation showed that “For every 1 THB invested in this disability program, there is a social return of 10.94 THB, which helps in saving to the Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities over 700 million THB”.

The implementation processes include: 1) Surveying the organizations that would like to join the project. 2) Recruiting of disabled persons who would like to join the project by coordinating with the associations for persons with disabilities and local government organizations. 3) Assessing skills, knowledge, and interests of those disabled persons. 4) Matching a job to the skills, knowledge, and interests of each disabled person 5) Conducting preparatory steps with the disables persons, coordinating organizations, and hiring organizations, as well as guiding the disabled persons to know and access their employee’s rights and welfare. 6) Monitoring and evaluating the disabled persons’ work performances 7) Developing disabled persons’ relevant skills e.g. specific skill for the job, communication skill, interaction skill, and etc. 8) Supporting the disabled persons to work independently or becoming a freelancer if they are interested and ready for it. In 2015, we started this policy in the public sector, annoucing a pilot program for the employment of 1,000 people with disabilities in community supported by 100 companies. In 2016, we engaged for several government organisations to take part in the programme. These included Ministry of Public Health, Community Health Doctor Association, Thai Army Wives Association, and the Thai Red Cross. We successfully advocate for the government specify an urgent target of providing career opportunities for 16,000 people with disabilities within 2 years. In 2017, we expanded the employment program to other provinces, starting from Chonburi and expanding to Samut Prakan, Ayutthaya and Samut Sakorn. In 2018-2019, we monitored and evaluated the outcome of the program through the process of empowerment and movement integration among disabled people networks both at central and local areas towards continuity and sustainability.

At first, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilties stated that such program didn’t match the purpose of the law. Moreover, disability organisations claimed that the program did not lead to true improvement in career paths of the disabled because private organizations did not have serious intentions in hiring, but joined to comply with the law. Solution was to collaborate with disability organisations on the employment of disabled people in the community as well as working with the relevant government agencies on employment policy. This helped bridge understanding as well as clarified the win-win benefits of all parties involved.

We innovated in the employment program of disabled people through working in a network, including 1) the host organisation at the centre—responsible for providing consultation, system development, coordinating with government service sectors and following up for evaluation; and, 2) “super nodes” and “nodes” as operating units—dispersed across the country, they worked directly with disabled people and caretakers in the local communities to survey the work conditions in the area, help recruit the disabled people, deal with their work placements, monitor their performance and develop and enhance their work potential.

The innovative approach was inspired by ThaiHealth’s methodology for identifying key problem and inventing a novel solution, which was used in movement in tackling other challenging health and social issues in Thailand before, such as tobacco control, alcohol control, and road traffic injuries. The movements created concrete and sustainable changes in society by driving progress and working with stakeholders from all sectors. In this program, it leads to increases in the earning opportunities and quality of life for the disabled people and their families.

The program was expanded to other provinces such as Chonburi, Rayong, Saraburi and Samut Sakorn. We pursued the Pracharat model of public-private-civil society partnership, to create a co-working space between public sector, private sector and civil society. We began by convincing each provincial governor the background and benefits to be gained through the employment of the disabled people. This resulted in a collaborative process and ownership among relevant sectors in each the province. This model is policy-led by the provincial governor and supported by the Provincial Social Development and Human Security Department, Provincial Employment Department, local businesses, civil society organizations, NGOs and local disabled person organisations. All of these organisations are integrated into the disability employment mechanism in the provincial level.

After the disabled people started to work for the hiring organizations, the feedback was mostly positive. The disabled people, their care takers and the employers themselves were all satisfied with the outcome, leading to 90 percent having their employment contracts extended the following year. This also resulted in the expansion of the types of employment available for those with disabilities, which could be categorized as: 1) regularly supporting jobs and 2) self-managed social services. The first aimed to increase opportunities for disabled people living in the local community, enabling them to have a career without having to travel a far distance, having an affordable cost of living and allowing them to be near their family. This type focused on those who could go to work regularly. Examples of this category includes patient screening at the hospital, administrative support, uploading data records in a municipality, and teaching assistant in schools. The latter included social services that were beneficial for the public and contributed to social activities. Mostly, these were services jobs, delivered as set out by a contract. Examples of these included work related to road safety campaigns, public relations and coordinating works.

The budget utilized under this program was 49.6 million THB for the duration of 3.5 years from (September 2014 – February 2018). Multi-sectoral partner organizations that supported the program included 7 government agencies (1. Ministry of Labour; 2. Ministry of Social Development and Human Security; 3. Ministry of Public Health; 4. Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities; 5. Department of Employment; 6. Department of Skill Development; and 7. Provincial Office of Social Development and Human Security); 6 disability developmental organisations; 6 organizations associated with private organizations’ human resource; and 1,773 local operating partner organizations.

A key factor is the engagement in policy-related processes to amend regulations/guidelines that were proven to be a hindrance for employing people with disabilities. Another factor is the bridging the understanding for relevant parties of their compliance requirements according to Provision 35 of the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Act (on the legal employment). This resulted in disabled people’s ability to acquire careers. On average, their annual income is at least 109,500 THB (or 9,000 THB per month). At local level, we encouraged careers that matched their skills and capability and suited their specific conditions and disabilities.

Yes

1. In the research study of the quality of life of people with disabilities arising from community employment and career promotion, the concept of well-being measurement, the satisfaction under the basic human needs (Maslow theory), health promotion concept, and theory of change were used by the research team from Social Innovation Foundation in collaboration with Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University 2. Logic model was used in the report of the external evaluation of people with disabilities employment according to Provision 33 of the Act.

Indicators are divided into health, economic and social dimensions. The results were derived from a questionnaire survey of 155 people with disabilities employed in the communities. However, the telephone survey is used for the evaluation of the quality of life of 251 people with disabilities who were employed.

Key outcomes of the program include: 1. Over 3,000 people with disabilities received employment which contributed to them having sufficient income, savings, being able to help members of their families, decreasing their dependence, having more freedom and dignity, and being recognized by families, communities, superiors and colleagues. 2. Central management units in local areas (“Nodes”) were set up, which consisted of government agencies, local organizations and organization of people with disabilities cooperating as networks. 3. On knowledge aspect, the employment manual of people with disabilities were developed for stakeholders and the lessons learned of the Nodes in working with people with disabilities were generated. In addition, a number of Nodes received capacity building to become change agents for the employment of people with disabilities. 4. Policy outcome is the engagement in policy-related processes to amend regulations that were a hindrance to employing people with disabilities, and the bridging of understanding for relevant parties of their compliance requirement to Provision 35 of the Act. 5. On Social aspect, the attitude of communities and society towards people with disabilities improved, recognizing their values and capacities. For private organizations, employers and co-workers are more prepared and open-minded to accept people with disabilities.

Government Sector consisted of 1. Ministry of Labour 2. Ministry of Social Development and Human Security 3. Ministry of Public Health 4. Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities 5. Department of Employment 6. Department of Skill Development and 7. Provincial Office of Social Development and Human Security have collaborated together to support the movement, for example, the policy to generate 10,000 new job positions under collaboration of Ministry of Labour, Thai Health Promotion Foundation, and Ministry of Social Development and Human Security; and the Pracharat (Public-Private-Civil Society) policy for society (E6) to set the urgent target of increasing career opportunity for 16,000 people with disabilities within 2 years. Social Sector included 6 leading disability developmental organisations, 6 leaders of people with disabilities and 1,773 local operating partner organizations. And Private Sector included 6 organizations associated with private organizations’ human resource

Important mechanisms towards sustainable development of this issue include 1. the capacity building and support of local partners and networks to sustain their movements to improve quality of life of people with disabilities. 2. Development of collaboration with major clusters/players are important, such as the Thai Banker’s Association, the Thai Chamber of Commerce, and the Federation of Thai Industries. This led to the following progresses: a) the cooperation of Thai Banker’s Association for the employment of more than 600 people with disabilities in Thai Red Cross Society in 2017 and more than 800 people in 2018; b) the pilot provincial model to employ and promote careers of people with disabilities in Chonburi province in cooperation with the province and their leading industrial estates. 3. Advocating policy movements in both government and private sectors, such as the successful advocacy for disability employment by law; time extension for companies to employ people with disabilities in 2017; the policy to generate 10,000 new job positions under collaboration among several government agencies; and the urgent target encouraging companies to employ people with disabilities under the Pracharat policy for society (E6) according to the legal ratio of 100:1.

In this program, people with disabilities gained and well-utilized their opportunities to create important impacts to themselves, their family and society. Key partner organizations worked strongly and efficiently and together they cooperated to gain supporting resources. Government sector adjusted their role from governing and regulating into proactively supporting role. Private companies also recognized the importance of employing of people with disabilities. This achievement can be merged into key SDG goals of Inclusive Society, Inclusive Workplace; Reduce Inequalities; End Poverty; Zero Hunger; Having Good Health and Well-Being, and enjoying Decent Work.