Rationale

Barriers which disabled people face in getting jobs and taking their place in society can and should be overcome through a variety of policy measures, regulations, programmes, and services .Women and men with disabilities can and want to be productive members of society. In both developed and developing countries, however, they are often hampered  by the barriers faced in receiving basic education, attending skills development courses and finding employment, as well as by inaccessible physical environments, public transport and information, and by widespread misunderstanding of their working capacity and their potential as active members of society

This course aims to contribute to the inclusion and empowerment of disabled people in societies and more specifically in the world of work, with a view to ensuring income security, decent working conditions and full participation. It has been designed as a joint effort by the ILO Disability Team, which promotes equality of opportunity and treatment for persons with disabilities in vocational rehabilitation, training and employment and works to increase knowledge on the training and employment of people with disabilities, and the Intermational Ttraining Centre of the ILO, which is putting its learning methodologies and applied technologies at the disposal of this ultimate goal.

In order to achieve the set objectives, the course proposes basic knowledge and awareness of the issues, as well as practical tools, (such as guidelines and other concrete instruments) to be used in day-to-day professional practice.

Objectives

More specifically the course will support the participant:

• to become familiar with the basic principles and means of the International Labour Organisation, with a view to making correct use of all its instruments to foster disability equality;
• to be able to identify how disability equality mainstreaming can contribute to the ILO policies and programmes, and advocate for this;
• to be able to refer to the ILO and other international instruments and commitments to disability equality as a key precondition for sustainable development and social justice, and make use of the principles, conceptual tools and concrete data those instruments provide for inclusive development planning;
• to be familiar with the main groups of laws and policy measures in use to promote opportunities for persons with disabilities
• to create awareness of existing needs and available tools for inclusion of people with disabilities in work and employment;
• to promote the safe, healthy and productive employment of persons with disabilities and analyse related working conditions and social protection;
• to become aware  of the proactive role of social partners and governmental structures in fostering disability equality.

Contents

The full course is currently being developed. The following modules are already available and constitute the core of the future programme:

Induction level:

- DET EN M0: Introduction to the ILO

- DET EN M1: Disability: concepts, definitions and approaches

Knowledge/ Awareness raising level:

- DET EN M2: International legal tools for disability equality

- DET EN M3: Employment of people with disabilities
This module is currently being developed.

- DET EN M4: Improving working conditions of people with disabilities

This module is currently being developed

- DET EN M5: Role of social partners and competent authorities in managing disabilities at the workplace.

Who should participate?

Different learning paths may be created to cater for the needs of:

• ILO technical specialists, project officers and other interested professional staff, including collaborators;
• ILO tripartite constituents with an interest in the topic;
• Potential trainers working for DPOs;
• Disability advocates/disabled persons representatives;
• Policy makers and project designers/implementers at national level;
• Administrators and service providers.

A few words on methodology

The course is flexible and has a modular structure. It has been designed not only to suit individual time availability but also to cater for individual interests and work-related needs. Each participant can build a "tailor-made" learning path by choosing the specific subjects of interest among the modules offered. Some modules of the course may be mandatory, as they establish a common overall framework. Participants may then choose the modules that best meet their specific learning needs.

The course includes a complete set of learning resources through the on-line Gender and Non Discrimination Campus: learning materials (with down-load facilities), exercises, case studies, links to existing databases and websites, etc.

Tutorial assistance by international experts, via e-mail and Internet, access to the “Campus”, electronic discussion forum and cybercafé to stimulate exchanges among participants and experience sharing on topics of general interest. A Virtual Information and Documentation Centre with links to gender-related information sources, data-bases, etc. Supplementary learning aids such as CD-ROMs (provided on request).

Course Language

English

Conditions of participation

Participation in the Gender and Non Discrimination Campus' courses is subject to: submission of the potential participant's application form and its acceptance by ITC/ILO; coverage of the corresponding fees (either through direct payment by the participant or through a sponsor. Participants have the possibility to attend a course at two different levels:

- The Tutored Course is a flexible training/learning course, where participants are expected to learn how to apply the contents to their professional practice. Participants will produce assignments; interact with other students and benefit from the expertise, get support and advice of one or more tutor(s), who will also assess their learning. This option may require an average of 20 to 30 study/hours per module, according to specific choices. Participants will receive a certificate for successfully completing the selected module(s). A Diploma issued by the International Training Centre of the ILO will be awarded to those who have successfully completed at least five course modules.(This may vary depending on course. Please inquire).

- The Guided reading option provides access to the learning platform and to its information contents. This option will allow "guided readers" to become acquainted with the subject and self-assess their learning through the means of an automatic feed-back system, without tutorial assistance. It requires approximately 10 study/hours per module. Guided readers shall not get a diploma through this option, just a certificate of attendance. This option is only available to:–Nationals of non-OECD countries–Institutions (from any country) enrolling a group of minimum 20 Guided readers. Special arrangements are granted to officials of UN agencies whenever interagency agreements apply. Participants who wish to be considered for a partial scholarship, shall specify this request when sending the duly filled-in application form and CV. Please note that, as funding is very limited, ITC/ILO is only able to offer a few scholarship per year. Scholarship recipients will have to cover half of the cost of each module (up to 5 modules, i.e. the minimum number required to receive a Diploma).

Cost of participation

The course cost is available on our website (http://gender.itcilo.org).Please register to access all enrolment details.

Applications

Applications to participate should be addressed to:

Gender and Non-Discrimination Programme

International Training Centre of the ILO,

Viale Maestri del Lavoro 10 - 10127 Turin, Italy

Tel +39 011 693 6600Fax. +39 011 693 6350;

E-mail: gcu@itcilo.org;

Web site: http://gender.itcilo.org

N.B.: A very limited number of partial fellowships are available for this activity.

On-line courses bear great advantages but participants may need some adaptation to this type of learning. Participants are encouraged to take necessary measures and carefully plan their work and family commitments to make sure to be able to dedicate to this learning experience.