Disability Resource Team (DRT)

Helping People with Disabilities
To Enter Vocational Training and Employment

What is the DRT?

For the past four years the ILO, with funding from the Japanese Ministry of Labour and human resources from Cambodia's Ministry of Social Affair, Labour and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSALVY) has field-tested the Disability Resource Team (DRT) concept. The DRT is composed of government counterparts in the provinces of Siem Reap, Pursat and Battambang. It provides people with disabilities with the necessary supports and assistance to enter mainstream vocational training programmes and find a job or use their skills to start businesses. The ILO/Japan funding for the project ended in 2001 but responsibility for its management has passed to MOSALVY.

How does the DRT work?

The DRT staff identifies people with disabilities in need of training and works with local Provincial Training Centers and other training centers to integrate disabled persons into vocational training programmes. The DRT also assists participants with financial needs by providing training stipends or small loans and grants for starting businesses after training, and provides follow-up services. In addition, the DRT offers training to the government and other service providers about disability issues. In 2001 the project introduced Success Care Replication (SCR) methodology, which is a form of informal peer training expanding the training options beyond those typically offered at training centers.

What has the DRT achieved?

According to the external independent evaluation of the project, by any measures the Disability Resource Team Project has been successful. Around 180 people who have been supported by the DRT to access some form of training are now either employed or self-employed - i.e. 67% of all project participants who completed a training course have been successful in finding employment or establishing self-employment. Other important findings include the following:

• Project staff have gained a high level of skills in vocational rehabilitation.
• A valuable base of knowledge and skill has been established in government and non-government administration in Cambodia's disability sector as a result of the DRT's program of seminars and workshops.
• Valuable training material and other resources have been developed by the DRT project for ongoing use in a range of settings to foster disability awareness and build the capacity of people in the disability sector.
• Small-scale credit schemes are essential for assisting people with disabilities to start up small business ventures.
• Community-based linkages and collaboration with other organizations have been a factor in the success of the DRT project.

Related: DRT participants' success stories

top of the page