Through a project called Forward Together, Humanity & Inclusion is addressing a challenge that young people with disabilities face every day: unemployment.

Forward Together is an inclusive employment and livelihood project led by Humanity & Inclusion in the Philippines and Indonesia. Throughout a successful three-year pilot phase, teams learned how to become more efficient, while supporting 380 young people with disabilities and more than 50 companies to be more inclusive of workers with disabilities. The project is now being relaunched in the Philippines and Indonesia, and will later arrive in Vietnam.

The project empowers people between the ages of 18 and 45 with disabilities, by increasing their access to decent employment.

The approach is two-fold: Forward Together engages companies who want to hire youth with disabilities, then supports young people with disabilities in accessing jobs. This is done through personalized coaching to ensure prospective workers develop the skills needed to enter the workforce or start their own business. Humanity & Inclusion teams also provide technical assistance to employers to prepare them to recruit, retain and provide professional development opportunities for employees with disabilities.

Fighting systemic exclusion

The systemic exclusion of persons with disabilities, especially in the workplace, is one of the forms of social prejudice that youth with disabilities experience regularly. This situation worsened during the Covid-19 period during which young people with disabilities became more marginalized than ever.

In the Philippines, for example, even with a formal degree, a person who is blind will generally not have access to training or a profession that matches their skill level. In fact, the only common profession available to people with visual disabilities is massage therapy.

‘Young people often have skills and commitment that could get them a good job or position,” says Twyla David, Humanity & Inclusion’s Forward Together coordinator, who helped launch the project in 2018. “At HI, we're working to ensure that they can access decent, productive employment."

Centering skills and passions

Young people participating in Forward Together can choose between self-employment or being hired by an employer. Humanity & Inclusion provides personalized support, including assistance devices such as special screens or glasses, mobility aids, coaching sessions, as well as allowances to support them financially until they receive their first paycheck. Even after landing a job, Humanity & Inclusion conducts home visits, provides ongoing job coaching and organizes peer support groups for project participants.

“They have to be of working age with basic literacy, a satisfactory level of autonomy and ability, and with adequate support from their families,” David explains. “We use the personalized social support approach; we try to bring their skills and passions to the forefront. We want to help them to work where they feel safe, productive and valued.”

She shares the story of Kyenna (pictured), a 26-year-old who is an advocate for the Deaf community.

“Kyenna has a hearing disability and communicates through sign language,” David says. “She specializes in video editing, special effects, digital illustration and layout. HI has been supporting Kyenna in the pursuit of her professional goals through coaching, training, and job preparation such as mock interviews.”

Now, Kyenna is pursuing a career in visual graphic design in Manila.

A community effort

While each participant is at the heart of the project, stakeholders are also important. Humanity & Inclusion works together with a pool of young jobseekers, companies of all sizes, public employment offices, technical schools and professional institutions.

David explains that the goal of the project is for the job market to become “disability-Inclusive, sustainable, and community-based.”

Humanity & Inclusion works alongside companies to strengthen their capacity to hire people with disabilities and protect their rights in the work place. Teams provide businesses with technical support and training sessions on disability awareness, inclusive hiring and talent acquisition. The project also supports companies in drafting inclusive business continuity plans and inclusive disaster risk management for their offices.

“It does not matter to us if the company has experience hiring persons with disabilities or not,” David says. “The most important is their readiness to do so. We help them with the most difficult step in achieving inclusive employment: getting started.”

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Four months after Indonesia was hit by an earthquake and a tsunami, Humanity & Inclusion continues to assist victims of the disaster.

"More than 170,000 people are still displaced,” says explains Cheria Noezar, HI's operational coordinator in Indonesia. “They need shelter, healthcare, and rehabilitation. One of HI's priorities is to ensure injured people receive rehabilitation care to prevent the onset of long-term disabilities.”

So far, physical therapists trained by HI have provided rehabilitation care to some 800 injured people in the villages of Donggala, Sigi, and Palu. They also taught families of people with disabilities how to perform rehabilitation exercises with their family members at home. In addition, the organization has also distributed more than 250 crutches, walking frames, and wheelchairs. In the coming weeks and months, the physical therapists hope to reach 2,000 disaster victims.

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia on September 28, killed more than 2,000 people and injured 4,000 others. Some 68,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, displacing more than 200,000 people. Humanity & Inclusion is assisting victims of the disaster, in partnership with Ikatan Fisioterapis Indonesia (IFI), a local physical therapy association.

"Two months after the earthquake, the situation is still very difficult for many victims,” says Cheria Noezar, HI operational coordinator in Indonesia. “Thousands of people who have lost their homes are still living in temporary shelters or sleeping in tents. Hundreds of thousands of people are in urgent need of shelter, healthcare, rehabilitation, and sanitation facilities. Many amputees and people who have spinal cord or head injuries have not yet received appropriate treatment. HI's priority is to provide rehabilitation care to victims in order to avoid the onset of long-term disabilities.

"Many people with disabilities are not aware of their rights in Palu. Their needs are too often ignored. We meet many people who have serious injuries as a result of the earthquake, but who did not seek help because the people around them did not think helping them was important. Thus, making sure their needs are taken into consideration is one of HI's priorities."

HI organized a training course in conjunction with IFI in Makassar City on November 24 and 25. Sudan Rimal, one of HI’s rehabilitation experts from Nepal, taught ten IFI physical therapists how to provide victims with post-emergency care. Following the training, the physical therapists traveled to ten areas in the regions of Sigi, Palu, and Donggala. They are going to provide rehabilitative care to at least 900 injured people and will teach their patients' families important exercises to perform with them. HI and IFI are also identifying the most vulnerable people in the community and referring them to other organizations that offer education, health care, and other services.

The impact of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia on September 28 continues to be felt. Liquefaction, when saturated soil becomes liquidated, has engulfed entire villages, leaving more than 10,000 people injured and 800 missing.

Preparing to supply aid 

HI's emergency team is on the ground, preparing to supply appropriate aid to victims of the tsunami and its aftermath. "Our four HI experts have split into two teams,” explains Fanny Mraz, Director of HI's emergency teams. “One team is in the southern Sulawesi island city of Makkasar, which is home to an airport that can dispatch aid to the affected areas. The other team is in Jakarta, coordinating HI's response with the other organizations.

“The consequences of the tsunami, such as landslides and liquefaction, prevented rescue teams from gaining immediate access to some of the seriously affected areas.”

Humanitarian actors in Indonesia, including HI and its partner CIS-Timor, meet to organize aid for victims in Palu, Sulawesi.

Assessment of health needs

Despite these challenges, HI will soon complete our assessment of the health needs of tsunami victims and its consequences in Sulawesi, including rehabilitation, mental health, and psychosocial support. Our local partner, CIS-Timor, is analyzing the priority needs of those affected. “It’s clear that the greatest need is to assist the injured and to prevent the spread of diseases and respiratory infections, resulting from damage to water infrastructure.” Fanny adds.

Logistics challenges

"The situation on the ground is complicated and our teams face many challenges. More than 68% of health centers are not functioning correctly, which explains overcrowding in local hospitals. More than 10,000 people have been injured—among them, 2,000 have serious injures—and the numbers are rising. Because we are present in Makassar, we could provide material aid to victims very quickly, such as crutches or kits to cover essential needs.”

Humanity & Inclusion in Indonesia

HI has worked in Indonesia since 2005, regularly providing support to victims of natural disasters. Our team organizes disaster prevention workshops, and workshops to improve community resilience. Learn more about our work in Indonesia.

Photo caption (top of page): Damage in Palu's city center, Sulawesi following the earthquake and tsunami which struck Indonesia on Sept. 28.

A powerful earthquake struck Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi, triggering a violent tsunami measuring nearly 20 feet. The official death toll has passed 1,400, with more than 2,500 injured. Many hospitals have been damaged and more than 65,000 people are displaced. Humanity & Inclusion’s support team of experts is on the ground, coordinating our emergency response with local organizations.

As the situation begins to stabilize and access to the worst affected areas becomes possible, the number of victims continues to rise. “We have sent a sizeable team of emergency experts from HI to help," says Fanny Mraz, director of HI's emergency teams.

“When patients arrive in hospitals, in large numbers, our priority is to provide immediate rehabilitation care in order to prevent irreversible damage, including a permanent disability. We will also ensure that patients have psychological support, because this type of situation can be traumatizing.

"We are not working alone. Two of our local partner organizations are traveling to the Palu region to assess the needs there. In order to provide the best possible assistance to as many victims as possible, it is important to work with local medical teams who are already present in hospitals.”

Humanity & Inclusion in Indonesia

HI has worked in Indonesia since 2005, regularly providing support to victims of natural disasters. Our team organizes disaster prevention workshops, and workshops to improve community resilience. Learn more about our work in Indonesia.

Photo caption (top of page): People drive past a washed up boat and collapsed buildings in Palu on October 1, 2018, after an earthquake and tsunami hit the area.

On September 28, a tsunami struck the center of the Indonesian archipelago, killing more than 1,200 people. Humanity & Inclusion is preparing to help people with disabilities and those injured. Pauline Falipou, an emergency physical therapist with HI, provided rehabilitation care in the wake of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. She explains the rehabilitation needs of the Indonesian people who are facing this type of emergency today.

Two disasters, many victims

We’re dealing with two disasters in Indonesia: an earthquake and a tsunami. The mortality rate is usually high in this kind of situation, 1,200 people have already died, the majority of them from drowning. But we can also expect to see a lot of injuries—wounds, fractures, head injuries and lung infections—because the people rescued from drowning may have swallowed contaminated water. We need to take urgent action in order to help the injured.

Immediate rehabilitation care

In the early stages of an emergency, HI teams will work in hospitals, which are saturated with injured people. Depending on the sort of injuries and traumas we face, we work with emergency medical teams to ensure the best possible care for patients.

Among them are people who have been rescued from a near drowning. It's critical that they bring up any contaminated water they may have swallowed. Our staff show them exercises to move secretions up, through their lungs, and to clear them from their body.

For fractures and head injuries, we must provide rehabilitation care immediately following any operation to avoid permanent disabilities. Our rehabilitation team performs the initial procedures, provides technical assistance, and distributes mobility devices such as wheelchairs and crutches.  

Psychological support

We never work alone — always in conjunction with psychologists, psychosocial workers and local caregivers.

Trauma is one of the biggest challenges when hundreds of people have been injured or when they’ve experienced the loss of a loved one in a traumatic event like a tsunami. For example, while working in Nepal following the 2015 earthquake, I met children who had limbs amputated and others with spinal cord injuries who could no longer walk.

These are very difficult situations to cope with. Oftentimes, people need to go through a period of mourning in order to accept their new physical condition and the fact that they will require psychological support as well as rehabilitation care.

In Indonesia, we’re assessing the situation so we can better understand the injuries and trauma experienced by survivors.

Pauline Falipou, an emergency physical therapist with HI, examines the leg of a man following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal.

Humanity & Inclusion in Indonesia

HI has worked in the country since 2005, regularly providing support to victims of natural disasters. Our team organizes disaster prevention workshops and workshops to improve community resilience. Learn more about our work in Indonesia.

Photo caption (top of page): People drive past a washed up boat and collapsed buildings in Palu on October 1, 2018, after an earthquake and tsunami hit the area.

On September 28, a tsunami struck the center of the Indonesian archipelago, killing more than 840 people, injuring thousands, and displacing nearly 50,000 others. Humanity & Inclusion is mobilizing its team to identify the needs of victims and with support from local partners, we will conduct an assessment in the Sulawesi region.

More than 800 people have died and thousands need emergency assistance following an earthquake of 7.5 magnitude and a tsunami nearly 20 feet high, which struck the Sulawesi region. "More than 15,000 people have been displaced in the city of Palu alone,” warns Florence Daunis, Director of Operations at HI. They need immediate help.”

HI’s Indonesian partners will travel to the area in order to assess the needs of affected people. "For the time being, electricity is still down in Dongala city and there is no running water. In addition to our initial response to meet the essential needs of displaced people, we expect to come across large numbers of injured people in need of urgent medical care and rehabilitation.

"HI's emergency teams are ready to be deployed in support of our partners in order to more accurately assess the rehabilitation needs of victims. It will also be important to offer psychosocial support. Psychosocial trauma is common in these types of disasters,” she adds.

Humanity & Inclusion’s work in Indonesia

HI has worked in the country since 2005, regularly providing support to victims of natural disasters. Our team organizes disaster prevention workshops and workshops to improve community resilience. Learn more about our work in Indonesia.

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, Handicap International worked to help vulnerable Indonesians, Sri Lankans and Indians affected by the large-scale disaster. Ten years later, the organization continues its work there, and has considerably developed its disaster risk management experience.