Project Title: Supporting Economic Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in regions of Georgia (SEEPD)

Project Duration: July 2020-June 2021

Donor: World Jewish Relief

Goal: Unemployment remains to be one of the most important and unresolved issues in Georgia. According to the 2015 research of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) the key concern of the 67% of the respondents is the problem of unemployment and lack of job opportunities.

Persons with disabilities continue to be excluded from the mainstream society and opportunities or programs to access education and employment, among others. Discrimination during recruitment and at workplaces is a significant issue in Georgia that prevent persons with disabilities to find and keep their jobs, which in the long-term adds to the social exclusion and poverty of persons with disabilities. There are multiple and complex barriers to the employment of persons with disabilities, including the level of knowledge and skills of disabled people themselves, inaccessible infrastructure and public transportation, stigma and stereotypes among employers and ineffective legislation to promote disability employment.

Due to these barriers, persons with disabilities in Georgia are also among the poorest groups of the population and therefore, deprived of opportunities to enjoy life. With the proposed project CIL will try to address the high unemployment rate of persons with disabilities by providing training and empowerment opportunities; working with employers to increase their awareness on the capacities of PWDs and supporting PWDs and their families to find jobs or become self-employed

Target regions: Kutaisi (Imereti region), Batumi (Adjara region) and Zugdidi (Samegrelo region)

Project Objectives and Activities:

The proposed project will involve peer workers from Kutaisi, Batumi and Zugdidi centers (one from each) who will work as Disability Employment Advisors in their regions and promote disability employment locally. They will carry out the following activities:

1. Collect information about available vacancies and full-time/part-time/internship positions in local communities;
2. Engage with employers and local businesses to understand their needs and come up with solutions tailored to these needs as well as the capacities of persons with disabilities;
3. Identify training opportunities for job-seeking persons with disabilities;
4. Provide consultancy to private and public body employers on accessibility and help identify resources to ensure accessibility of workplaces;
5. Cooperate with local government entities (municipalities, social service agencies, etc.) to hire persons with disabilities as interns on various positions;
6. Organize meetings between employers and job-seekers with disabilities in Zugdidi, Kutaisi and Batumi.

Objective 2: Promote self-employment of persons with disabilities by involving them in a cycle of business training and business start-up support program.

With the proposed project CIL will continue promoting self-employment of persons with disabilities in Imereti, Samegrelo and Adjara regions. The project will deliver 8-day training (2 cycles) in setting up and managing small business for 21 participants (7 from each region).

CIL and business trainers/consultants will help the participants develop, finalize and implement their business plans and ideas, calculate risks and come up with risk mitigation techniques. The project will fund 2 business plans (2000 GBP each) from the project regions with the biggest potential for success and sustainability.