Disability, both in the developing and developed countries, is believed to be linked to poverty and social exclusion, with consequences for individuals in access to services, in their educational achievements, labor force participation and consumption. 6,2 of the adult population in Albania – or 2 084 137 persons suffer from a form of disability.
The most common form of disability is movement limitation (3,7 percent) and the least common forms of disability are those in hearing and communication (1,7% and 1,5% respectively), while sight, learning and self-care fluctuate somewhere in between.
Disability can hinder a person from working or it can limit the kind and quantity of work he/she can perform. Mitra et al (2012) shows that the employment rate is expected to be lower for persons with disabilities due to the lower minimum wages (considering that individuals with disabilities sometimes experience lack of incentives to work, as a result of availability of payments they receive) and low wages in the market as a result of the lower productivity and/or discrimination.
An important focus of the project is the inclusion of persons with disabilities, so that they are not left behind, rather than empowered for employment through vocational courses/internships.
Andrea (a person with movement disability) was first involved in the YourJob project in May 2020 through career counselling and trainings for the youth empowerment in the labor market.
Through career counselling emerged his interests and passions as well.
Then, following the counselling cycle and with our mediation Andrea started, in October 2020, his Internship as gardener in “Rapsodia” Restaurant.
During the 6-month internship Andrea demonstrated: interest and willingness to learn, communication and social skills at work, being open to constructive criticism, adhering to ethics and internal business rules, ability to work in a team, organizational skills at work, correctness in working hours, quality of work performed, professional/technical behavior, fulfillment of work objectives.
The mentor who supported and supervised him for 6 months and commended these performance qualities decided to employ him. Actually Andrea works as a gardener in the “Rapsodia” Restaurant with a regular individual contract.