On Wednesday, 24 March, the list of projects directed to the negotiation stage in the competition Development of professional potential of people with disabilities (Part 1.5 PO WER) was signed. There was a great interest in the competition, as a result of which the organiser received as many as 144 applications, out of which 34 projects with the highest number of points obtained were sent for negotiations. Over PLN 100 million has been allocated to all projects.

Big and small, old and young help

The selected group includes large organisations such as the Activation Foundation, reporting on the “Work-For-All” programme. The Foundation team consists of 140 employees and 200 volunteers.  They operate in 13 voivodeships. They help people with disabilities from all over the country to improve their qualifications and socio-vocational competences, to find a job or to change jobs, and they offer advice to employers with respect to employing people with disabilities, training and job placement.

The consulted projects also include regional undertakings, such as the Mazovia District of the Polish Association of the Blind, which has prepared a programme entitled “Time for Development, Time for Employment”.

The Polish Association of the Blind from Laski, an association established over a hundred years ago, and the Social Cooperative “Open Technologies,” established in the 21st century, also entered the competition. They all have one objective - to increase the level and quality of employment for people with disabilities and people economically inactive due to illness.

Priorities include access to rehabilitation and activation

Supporting people with disabilities is one of the pillars of the pro-family policy consistently pursued by the United Right government. The best evidence of a consistent approach to making real changes in this area is the Strategy for Persons with Disabilities announced by the Minister of Family and Social Policy, Marlena Maląg, and the Government Plenipotentiary for the Disabled, Paweł Wdówik, in February this year. Its main objective is to integrate them into social and professional life, thereby realising the rights guaranteed to them by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The document takes into account the demands of this environment and assumes a comprehensive, horizontal, cross-sectoral approach of public policy to support people with disabilities, taking into account the different needs for independent living and social inclusion.