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Our Activities :
Country Activities :ThailandWith the regional ILO offices located in Bangkok, Thailand, the AbilityAP programme has been actively involved with the Government, social partners and disabled persons organizations in many activities related to equal employment and equal treatment of people with disabilities.
May Day and union activities In May, 2006 the ILO joined Disabled People’s International (DPI) --- Asia Pacific and DPI Thailand and literally thousand of trade unionists in the annual International Labour Day (May Day) march through Bangkok. DPI members, representing many different disability groups, carried placards promoting ratification of ILO Convention 159, removal of discriminatory laws toward disabled persons and promotion of a safer workplace. Visit the Photo Gallery of this Web site to see photos of the annual event or read DPI’s May Day Report, 2006. This was the third year that the ILO sponsored the participation of disabled persons in the event. In addition, the ILO has worked through the Institute for Occupational Health, Safety and Environment to raise the awareness of trade unionists in Thailand about the needs of injured workers and disabled persons in their quest for equal rights and safer workplaces. Many of its training programmes include a disability awareness module, show ILO disability videos or include presentations by an ILO disability specialist. Tsunami project and disabled persons The ILO-executed project, Post Tsunami Livelihood Recovery in the Tourism Sector in Phuket and Phang Nga, was funded by UNDP as a response to the economic implications of the tsunami that affected Thailand in December 2005. Being already socially excluded and economically vulnerable, people with disabilities ere more adversely affected by the tsunami than others, as their situation was exacerbated by the disaster. The Disabled Peoples’ International Asia-Pacific Regional Office was among the project’s sub-grantees. DPI proposed a two-prong initiative: i) improving livelihoods for people with disabilities in Phang Nga tsunami affected areas through skills training and empowerment: and ii) improving business opportunities in the hospitality industry by introducing “barrier-free concepts” and promoting accessible tourism. The DPI initiative was a success. Many disabled people were trained in specific skills and entrepreneurship. One of the outcomes of the project is the establishment of the Phang Nga Society of Disabled Persons (PSDP) which was set up and registered as a provincial self-help organization for some 4,000 disabled persons living in eight districts of Phang Nga Province. With support from an NGO in Japan, the PSDP has provided 60 wheelchairs to people with disabilities. Another of DPI’s immediate impacts is that ten resorts have integrated ramps and other means of universal accessibility to their properties and the National Park in Khao Lak renovated its premises to increase accessibility after DPI’s visit. DPI now hopes to pursue this advocacy for universal access of parks at the national level. Additional information about the DPI component of the project can be found in the DPI section of the final project report. Participation in other ILO Projects Thailand is also participating in the inter-regional project Promoting the Employability and Employment of People with Disabilities through Effective Legislation (PEPDEL). Ratchasuda College at Mahidol University has adapted and pilot tested the curriculum on ‘Achieving Equal Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities through Legislation’, developed by Cornell University under the PEPDEL project. Thailand was also a participant in the earlier component of the PEPDEL project entitled Employment of People with Disabilities---The Impact of Legislation. The project funded Thailand to translate relevant legislation from other countries to assist it in revising and drafting the employment promotion revisions of the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act. The ILO is also provided a legal expert to review the final draft of its new legislation. Thailand also a participants in the ILO/Korea Fellowship Programme and attended both of its training programmes in Seoul in 2005. In 2006, the Phrapradaeng Vocational Training Centre, operated by the Department of Social Welfare in Thailand, will enter into a “sister-school” relationship with a similar training institution in Korea to upgrade its services and further collaborate with Korea and the ILO to serve individuals with the most severe disabilities. Work with ECOT, employers and NGOs The ILO has worked actively with local employers and the Employers Confederation of Thailand (ECOT), as well as local NGOs and the Government on projects and activities to promote the hiring of workers with disabilities. For example, in 2005, as a follow-up to the ILO/ESCAP Multinational Corporation Roundtable on Disability and Employment, the ILO provided resources to the Redemptorist Vocational School for the Disabled in Pattaya to work with the National Deaf Association and two NIKE sub-contractors. Redemptorist staff, working with the associated provided a one-day job-seeking skills training and subsequent work site visit and job matching services. As a result, 12 individuals were employed and an effective partnership was developed. In 2003, the ILO, ECOT and the Office of Empowerment of People with Disabilities collaborated to offer a training programme to employers on how to train people with disabilities on the job. As a result, several employers took advantage of a special training fund to train disabled workers. The project demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach and the Government now makes funds available to employers to train disabled persons on the job. These two examples are representative of many activities that result from the close proximity of the AbilityAP programme to Thais with disabilities. Other support to the Government The ILO has provided technical assistance to the Government’s Ministry of Labour and Human Security (and, prior to the Government’s reorganization, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare) regarding trends, issues, best practices and equal rights for people disabilities in employment and training. Special attention has been paid to mainstreaming in the areas of employment services, vocational training and providing improved services to persons with severe disabilities. As an example, in 2004, the ILO undertook and major technical cooperation activity to review vocational assessment initiative of the Office on the Empowerment of People with Disabilities. The ILO assessed its pilot programme, provided technical advice on how to improve it and offered an interactive training programme in Work Sample Development to assist the NGOs and training providers develop assessment tools specific to local and cultural needs. The relationship between the ILO and the Thai Government on vocational rehabilitation issues spans more than a decade and touches many issues and disability groups. As a contribution to the Kingdom's campaign to promote the employment of people with disabilities in 2002, the ILO produced a country-specific video, AbilityThailand to encourage positive attitudes among employers related to hiring and promoting workers with disabilities. The video is in the Thai language, however Thailand also collaborated on the English-language AbilityAsia video. As a result of producing the videos, the ILO identified many exemplary employers and established a closer link to the Employers’ Confederation of Thailand (ECOT). Thailand participated in the ILO’s 14-country study and in the ILO/Japan Technical Consultation on Vocational Training and Employment of People with Disabilities. As a result, the ILO developed a comprehensive paper on the status of training and employment for disabled persons in Thailand and identified three examples of good practice for dissemination. To learn more about training and employment of people with disabilities in Thailand, consult the following:
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Updated 2008-01-07 |
