How one program is engaging professionals with disabilities

Global development can be a particularly tough sector to enter for young professionals with disabilities, who may face additional challenges in gaining the international experience they need to land their first job. As building inclusive programming for people living with disabilities gains more attention across the sector, some organizations have begun to look at how they can be more inclusive inside their own walls. “When you have a disability, you don’t normally consider volunteering internationally as an opportunity,” said Jessica Mohr, a talent analyst with United Nations Volunteers. “There simply is always a problem in coping with your special needs. You can arrange yourself at home but then on the road, it’s an issue.” The United Nations Development Programme and UNV are hoping to change this, launching a talent program to help young professionals with disabilities break into the development sector. Volunteers will complete assignments for a minimum of 12 months that will include learning and professional development opportunities with a specific focus on the Sustainable Development Goals. The idea is to give volunteers a “special opportunity to build their capacity to get jobs after the volunteer position,” said Mohr, who is overseeing implementation of the initiative. While it is still in the pilot phase, Devex spoke to Mohr about the planning and preparation involved in launching the talent program and ensuring its success. Adapt existing ways Noticing there were still too few professionals with disabilities working in the U.N. system, UNDP started by promoting inclusion within their own agency and reached out to UNV to help engage early career professionals, explained Mohr. The agency set about adapting their existing volunteer mechanism and developed the UNDP-UNV Talent Programme for Young Professionals with Disabilities, which will offer national and international assignments to individuals with physical or sensory disabilities. Creating a special program for professionals with disabilities was the easiest way to engage this group but Mohr hopes that in future, all volunteer programs will offer positions and support. “Then there would be no need for a special program anymore — but the inclusion would be reached within volunteering — and that’s what we aim for in UNDP and UNV,” she said. “And hopefully we can spread the spirit to the other agencies, that’s the long-term focus.” In implementing a new talent program, there can be internal and bureaucratic challenges, said Mohr, and it’s best to think of these early on: “There are operating procedures for everything and something written on how to do this and that,” she explained, “so it’s about adjusting these procedures.” This can be as simple as making arrangements for a sign interpreter to assist during Skype interviews with hearing-impaired individuals. Staff buy-in was also important in setting the program up for success. Mohr recommended bringing together all the different sections of the organization to share ideas and insights, and see where adjustments may need to be made. Don’t rush the planning and preparation It takes time to really consider all the different needs of someone with a disability, explained Mohr. “You really have to discuss and find out what is the current situation and what we have to do in order to prepare an office to host a volunteer with a disability,” she said. Country offices and regional hubs interested in hosting a volunteer through the program had to provide details of the placement offer — a letter of motivation, and an accessibility checklist looking at potential obstacles such as building access, availability of low printers, and signs in Braille. Special funding is available through the program to help host offices provide reasonable accommodations but these things also take time, said Mohr. Approximately 40 country or regional offices expressed interest in hosting a volunteer and, to Mohr’s surprise, the positions they were looking to fill were not solely in the field of inclusion and disability rights. The offices were looking to fill “a broad range of positions,” said Mohr, such as communications officers, IT specialists, data analysts, and also field positions. The program will also assist in the capacity development of host offices through seminars, workshops, and sensitization training. Delivered via webinars, these will address different aspects of inclusion, such as word choice when talking about special needs. Mohr and one other colleague will act as “focal points” at UNV and can arrange in-person visits where necessary to support participating offices. Engage people with disabilities To ensure your workplace and its talent programs are truly inclusive Mohr recommends involving people and organizations working on disability issues. “They have experience and can give you some insights that other people simply don’t have,” she explained. Last year, before the introduction of this talent program, UNV deployed a deaf volunteer from India to a country office in Ukraine but challenges arose that had not been anticipated. “That’s what we want to avoid by doing a lot [of] preparation and making it start smoothly for both sides — the country office and the volunteer,” said Mohr.