Business Advisory Council (BAC)

Helping People with Disabilities
Gain Economic Independence

What is a BAC?

A Business Advisory Council (BAC) is a group of business volunteers who serve as co-managers of employment and training programmes and link the programme to the workplace in order to foster training and employment of people with disabilities. BACs also engage in many other activities such as conducting seminars for employers, mentoring individuals, providing information and mock interviews, designing industry-responsive training programmes, providing on-the-job training, etc. The BAC model is based on the highly successful Projects With Industry (PWI) programme in the United States, which the ILO successfully replicated in Tanzania and Kenya. A BAC is currently in operation in Cambodia (see Cambodia under "Our Activities" section).

Why it is important to foster employment of people with disabilities?

The BACs join government, nongovernmental organizations, and business and industry in a joint effort to meet the employment and income generating needs of people with disabilities. The World Health Organization estimates that 10 percent of the population in a developing country is disabled. Disabled persons are the poorest segment of the population and are likely to be stigmatized and excluded from social, educational, and employment opportunities. However, if given the chance, people with disabilities can make productive employees and successful business operators.

What is needed to implement the BAC model?

• An NGO, government entity, international organization or combination thereof that serves as the catalyst for the program and provides the necessary funding, expertise and secretariat;
• A group of volunteers from business and industry that are organized as a BAC based on similar interests or need for qualified and trained workers;
• An entity, often a government office or local NGO, that will identify people with disabilities in the geographic area to be served, assess their needs, and provide support and related services.

How to implement BAC in Asia and the Pacific?

This basic conceptual model of business working with the government or organizations whose mission it is to serve disabled individuals could be adapted to meet the needs of several countries. Although such business partnership programs are usually implemented in urban areas and involve employment in formal labor markets, the model could be adapted for rural areas or the development of small or cooperative businesses. National, local, industry-specific or even a regional program could be designed and implemented by adapting the business partnership approach. Please contact the ILO Disability Programme if you are interested in pursing this model or wish to engage business and employers more actively in employment and training programmes.

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