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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In the Philippines, frequent natural disasters have serious consequences for people with disabilities. Humanity & Inclusion works closely with affected communities to ensure inclusive disaster preparation.

Located in the North Pacific typhoon belt and the Pacific Ring of Fire, the country experiences frequent cyclones, volcanic activity and earthquakes, putting its more than 100,000,000 residents at risk.

“Persons with disabilities are invisible during crisis events in the Philippines, whether caused by cyclones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or COVID-19,” explains Carissa Galla, Humanity & Inclusion’s Disaster Risk Reduction Technical Specialist for the region. “How many people with disabilities are affected? How many can access humanitarian assistance? How many receive warning information and can evacuate safely? This information is rarely collected, so the needs are not considered. We need to work with persons with disabilities and their organizations to ensure that no one is invisible during emergencies.”   

In the event of disaster, people with disabilities are up to four times more likely to lose their lives than those without disabilities. They are often left out of disaster preparedness planning, resulting in accessibility barriers and a lack of adapted emergency resources.

Humanity & Inclusion operates inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) projects in 15 countries, including the Philippines: one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

Empowering local leaders

In the Philippines, Humanity & Inclusion teams are working to reduce the vulnerability of 32 barangays—small administrative districts—devastated by Typhoon Ompong in 2018, and to prepare for disaster risks by enhancing the meaningful, inclusive participation of civil societies in disaster and climate risk governance.

Project EMPOWER, funded by the European Union and operated by Humanity & Inclusion in partnership with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, aims to:

• Develop preparedness plans in 3,000 households
• Distribute 26 inclusive early warning kits to communities including items such as megaphones, whistles, bells, and visual devices such as color-coded flags, communication cards, reflective vests, ponchos, LED flashlights, solar panels, headlamps, and transistor radios
• Remove barriers for aging people, people with disabilities, children and women in DRR actions
• Increase the number of women leaders and active members of disaster and climate risk governance structures by more than 500
• Increase community organization-led climate risk initiatives by 80%
• Improve municipality contingency plans and implement 26 climate risk help desks
• Conduct and create modules for inclusive DRR training for organizations and policymakers
• Host gender, age and disability sensitivity workshops and simulation exercises
• Collect data regarding gender, age, disability, risks and resources.

Uplifting voices of impacted people

“When Typhoon Ompong hit our municipality and killed 94 people, I realized the importance of citizens' participation in risk governance,” says Avelino Tomas, Regional President of the Organization of People with Disabilities. “Persons with disabilities are capable of taking control of their lives and safety. We must allow them to participate and contribute to disaster and climate risk governance."

Not only must we include their needs in disaster risk reduction efforts, we must ensure that people with disabilities are active contributors to the response. According to a UN 2013 survey, 50% of people with disabilities said they wished to participate in disaster risk reduction efforts, but only 17% were aware of any plans in their community.

Many authorities focus on what people with disabilities cannot do while ignoring their expertise and capability to lead initiatives. In the Philippines and elsewhere, misconceptions and barriers to participation give people the false impression that people with disabilities can only be passive recipients of assistance. Surveys revealed that many in the community perceived these individuals as “victims,” “fragile,” or “burdens” in a disaster scenario.

Carmela Penchon, Secretary of the Federation of Persons with Disabilities in Itogen shared that as a woman with a disability, she felt unable to actively contribute to climate governance policies. After attending a Humanity & Inclusion awareness session on disability, gender and age sensitivity, she has become an outspoken and active advocate, championing ways to protect her community and lead DRR and climate change management initiatives.

Global climate change conference

Humanity & Inclusion is attending COP26, the UN’s Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow, Scotland, to advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction and climate change governance around the world. Over a billion people are concerned by inclusive risk reduction planning and climate action, and it is no longer acceptable for policymakers to exclude people with disabilities from response efforts.

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To mark International Women's Day on March 8, we talked to Reiza Dejito, a strong woman who is deeply committed to both her family and her role at Humanity & Inclusion. Currently serving as the Program Director for Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, Reiza has worked in numerous countries affected by humanitarian crises for two decades.

Why did you decide to join Humanity & Inclusion?

I graduated in science and physical therapy, and I earned diplomas in teaching and then management. I also completed several volunteer missions in the Philippines (my home country) and Ethiopia. And then, three months after leaving Ethiopia, I joined Humanity & Inclusion as a victim assistance project manager in Bor, South Sudan. Since then, I have worked in Kenya, Bangladesh, the Philippines and now Nepal.

Is there one experience that really stands out?

Working with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. They’ve suffered so much. One woman told me how she watched helpless as her husband was murdered and her house was burned down. A 9-year-old child, who was injured in the arm by a bullet after being caught in the crossfire, told me he’d forgiven the attacker for hitting the wrong target. Men, women and children walked for days and days to cross the border with little food and water. Awful. 

As a director in the Philippines, I joined the emergency team to help the victims of Super Typhoon Goni. I was extremely impressed by the resilience and generosity of Filipinos. And the commitment of my team and partner organizations to provide assistance to those who needed it most.

What’s the hardest part of your job?

As Program Director, I’m responsible for the security and protection of my teams and ensuring they are safe and sound, and in good health, especially during emergencies, crises and conflicts. In 2016, I had to manage the evacuation of Humanity & Inclusion’s teams in South Sudan following a series of deadly clashes between armed groups. It was the most trying experience of my career.

What's really important when it comes to working with your team?

Trust. Transparency. Empathy. And being able to laugh together.

Humanitarian and mother: how do you strike the right balance?

For many women, achieving this balance is a huge challenge and often prevents them from taking on more responsible positions. I’m extremely fortunate to have a supportive family and a husband who takes care of our child when I’m working. Thanks to their support, I can do the job I do. My family is my biggest incentive. They really inspire me to do better every day.

Is gender equity a challenge in the humanitarian sector?

I’ve been personally fortunate to work with male colleagues and team leaders who are advocates for women's leadership. But while many women work in the humanitarian sector, there are still too few in senior positions. Many organizations have made a lot of progress, but not enough. There is a great deal of work to do before we achieve greater equity. It’s not an easy task, because these inequalities run deep. They’ve been entrenched in cultural, social, financial and political life for generations. It’s not simply a question of empowering women and advancing their rights, but of changing corporate cultures. Men also have a role to play here. I want to see women access positions of responsibility just like men. I think we'll get there...slowly but surely.

Header image: A Filipino woman named Reiza (wearing the blue visor) and another woman carry a tub of supplies after Typhoon Goni in the Philippines. Copyright: HI

Inline image: Reiza squats down to talk with a girl who has an artificial leg at a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya, in 2015. Copyright: Xavier Bourgois/HI

The COVID-19 crisis hasn’t stopped Humanity & Inclusion from providing personalized care for people with disabilities.  

Danwell P. Esperas full-time job is helping people with disabilities find gainful employment opportunities, something that often proves difficult due to discrimination, inaccessibility or stigma. But his work doesn’t stop there. As a personalized social support officer for Humanity & Inclusion, Danwell provides tailored follow-up care for people in Valenzuela, a city near Manila in the Philippines, helping them access community resources and take care of their mental, physical and economic wellbeing.

Danwell works under Humanity & Inclusion’s Forward Together Project: Empowering Youth with Disabilities in Asia, which aims to help people between 18 and 40 with disabilities access meaningful employment in Manila, Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Preparing people with disabilities for the workforce

Danwell, a registered nurse by profession but a development working by heart, provides personalized social support that empowers project participants to learn more about themselves, improve their skills, access employment opportunities, and reach their life goals.

In May 2019, Danwell met a man who is deaf, with aspirations to work for a manufacturing company. Starting with an initial assessment, Danwell guided the man in creating a personalized action plan and provided advice on writing a resume and giving a successful job interview. After two weeks of coaching sessions, the participant landed a job, where he was also able to teach his co-workers the basics of Filipino sign language.

Covid-19 presents unique challenges

Unfortunately, like so many people around the world, Covid-19 pandemic plunged the man into a new and serious economic crisis. He lost his job, but Danwell continued to support him by providing sessions to cope with the trauma and information on accessing assistance from different government agencies. 

He is just one of the project participants who Danwell has continued to coach amid the pandemic through remote sessions on Covid-19 prevention and awareness, stress management, the importance of self-care, and how to access financial assistance and goods being provided by the government. Humanity & Inclusion’s Forward Together project also adapted its strategies to Covid-19 by providing cash transfers to project participants so they can afford basic needs like housing, food and medicine.

Image: Danwell P. Esperas is a personalized social support officer for Humanity & Inclusion in the Philippines. He meets with participants in the Forward Together project, which works to connect people with disabilities to gainful employment. Copyright: HI

Humanity & Inclusion donors continue to help victims of Typhoon Goni, which delivered a serious punch to the Philippines in early November. Teams are distributing temporary shelter kits and providing financial assistance.

Typhoon Goni, known locally as Typhoon Rolly, made landfall in the eastern Philippines on Sunday, November 1. The most violent typhoon to hit the archipelago this year, Goni has killed at least 16 people and caused extensive damage.

Humanity & Inclusion has worked in the Philippines since 1985, and set up a five-person-strong team to determine the impact of the storm, supported remotely by other Humanity & Inclusion staff members. The team plans to visit several provinces - Albay and Sorsogon – where it will assess humanitarian needs and access issues. This unit’s work will help to determine our response options.

The most powerful typhoon so far this year, Typhoon Goni hit the Philippine coast in Bicol region at around 5 am with winds of over 140 miles per hour, gusting to 174 miles per hour. Wind and rain struck several provinces in the archipelago.

Damages to homes, roadways, and infrastructure is significant. Some 25 million people live in the worst-affected areas, and roughly 70 million live in regions that are slightly less affected. In these areas, many families already live in highly precarious conditions.

According to a partner organization of Humanity & Inclusion, at least half of houses in the Catanduanes region have been damaged. Floods have also destroyed bridges and blocked roads. The storm left almost 150 municipalities without power and disrupted water supplies elsewhere. In the province of Catanduanes, Bicol region, communications were only restored on Monday and authorities have warned of food shortages.

Over the coming hours and days, Humanity & Inclusion’s teams and partners will assess the extent of the damage and the needs of the most vulnerable families before deciding on what action to take.

Caption: The floodwater stills in Oas, Albay © Shiena Realuyo Base

About Humanity & Inclusion's work in the Philippines

Our teams have worked in the Philippines since 1985, delivering aid and services to the most vulnerable victims of natural disasters and running ongoing disaster-risk reduction programs to help people with disabilities prepare for future disasters.

As one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, Humanity & Inclusion's Philippines team focuses its work on the country's poorest areas—where the population is most exposed to disasters and conflicts and where public services are lacking. Typhoons and their side-effects, including landslides, storm surges and flash floods, are the most frequent and devastating natural disasters. In the past 20 years, natural disasters have killed more than 31,000 and affected more than 98 million people in the Philippines. Humanity & Inclusion was one of the key humanitarian agencies responding to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013-2014.

Image details  |  Location: Zone 4, Lanigay, Polangui, Albay; Copyright: Marie Cris Sauler

Center dunes and burnt trees, the Taal volcano eruption on January 12 left a desolate landscape on Taal Island. Alert level 4 is still in effect: a new eruption could occur in the hours or days to come.

Residents of the island and neighboring areas, threatened by the volcano, had to evacuate. According to the Ministry of Social Protection and Development, more than 71,000 families (more than 280,000 people) have been affected. Among them, more than 39,000 families are temporarily sheltered in more than 490 evacuation centers.

Humanity & Inclusion’s team in the Philippines is assessing the needs of populations affected by the volcanic eruption in the Batangas and Cavite areas. According to our staff, people with disabilities and vulnerable individuals have not gone to the evacuation centers and are staying with relatives or friends. They therefore do not have access to basic services—access to health infrastructure, drinking water, food, etc.

The damage caused by the Taal volcano (soils buried by ash, smoke clouds) is likely to be long-lasting and to have a significant impact on agricultural land, livestock (many animals were killed), the access to drinking water and air quality.

Humanity & Inclusion is continuing the needs assessment and is considering an emergency response for the victims of the disaster.

Since Monday evening, December 1, Typhoon Kammuri has been battering the Philippines. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated.

The violent typhoon hit the island of Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, at about 11 p.m., local time, with wind up to 150 miles per hour.

The typhoon is expected to pass just south of the capital Manila, bringing torrential rains which are likely to cause flash floods and major landslides.

Assessing the damage

Humanity & Inclusion, present in the Philippines since 1985, is preparing to deploy a team to conduct a needs assessment following the disaster. Among their concerns, people with new injuries, those with disabilities, and older people; as well as aid routes that could be blocked by debris.

Humanity & Inclusion often mobilizes its emergency teams in response to the frequent natural disasters that hit the country. In particular, we intervened in following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 and Typhoon Mangkhut in September 2018. Also, our teams have been supporting people displaced from a recent series of strong earthquakes. 

From October 16-31, the Philippines was hit by a series of earthquakes in Tulunan and North Cotabato, killing 21 people and injuring more than 400. Schools, homes, and health centers experienced extensive damage. An estimated 231,000 Filipinos were affected, including 36,000 evacuees, who are living in 32 evacuation centers. More than 1,000 schools have been damaged, affecting more than 3 million students.

Accessing aid

In early November, Humanity & Inclusion’s team completed a needs assessment, focusing on the most vulnerable individuals—people with disabilities, older adults, and pregnant women. "Many people with disabilities cannot access distribution sites—for food, for example—some of which are remote,” explains Reiza Dejito, director of Humanity & Inclusion in the Philippines. “And when they do, there is often a long line, which makes it very difficult for people with disabilities to access them. Hampering things is the fact that disaster-affected people also have little or no money. And if they do have money, to buy food, for instance, then they don’t have any kitchen utensils. Access to safe drinking water is also a real problem.” 

Protection

“Many houses have also been destroyed or damaged, so residents sleep in evacuation centers, in tents, or in makeshift shelters. It is very hot during the day and at night it rains. They need blankets, tarpaulins, mosquito nets, etc. With so many people living outside, there is little privacy and one mother told us she had to change her son, who has a disability, in front of everyone. This creates problems around the protection of the most vulnerable people.”

Priorities

Humanity & Inclusion’s top priority is to meet the basic needs of disaster-affected people, including access to drinking water, shelter, and sanitation. We will also provide victims of this disaster with rehabilitation care and psychological support.

Humanity & Inclusion in the Philippines

For more than 34 years, Humanity & Inclusion's teams in the Philippines have worked with people affected by natural disasters in the archipelago, including a large-scale response to Super Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, which affected more than 14 million people and claimed more than 6,000 lives.

Learn more about our work in the Philippines.

On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, killing more than 8,000 people and displacing more than four million from their homes. Present in the Philippines since 1985, HI immediately launched an emergency response to assist victims of the disaster which affected more than 15 million Filipinos.

Rehabilitation and psychological support

HI’s teams organized more than 1,500 rehabilitation sessions for people injured in the storm and provided psychological support to more than 800 injured or traumatized individuals.

Logistics platform

We also set up a logistics platform to transport more than 1,600 tons of food to people living in remote areas such as Tacloban and Palo.

Durable shelters

HI distributed more than 1,300 tents and helped rebuild more than 1,000 durable shelters with support from local carpenters in the provinces of Capiz and Leyte.

Financial support 

In addition, HI engaged 900 vulnerable people in southern Tacloban (Leyte province) to clear debris from public buildings (schools, etc.) and gave them financial support in return. The project helped better integrate these individuals in their communities and benefit financially. HI also helped 800 households set up a small business, such as a small grocery store, restaurant, pig farm, etc.

Safe spaces for children

In the eastern and western Visayas regions, our teams provided support to 50 child-friendly safe spaces where children with disabilities can learn and play.

Protection from the risks of natural disasters

HI distributed protection kits (solar lamps, rechargeable radios, etc.) and trained students and teachers from five schools[1] to protect themselves in the event of a natural disaster.

Today, HI continues to provide support to victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the province of Capiz, by enabling them to benefit from vocational training and to restore their livelihoods (small restaurants, livestock breeding, etc.). HI helps the most vulnerable people protect themselves from the risk of natural disasters by providing them with information and help to prepare for these events.

HI regularly intervenes in the wake of natural disasters. We launched another emergency response in aid of victims of Typhoon Mangkhut, which struck the northern Philippines in September 2018. Its teams hired more than 1,500 unskilled workers to conduct clearing work. They were also offered financial support.

HI runs other projects in the Philippines, including on cardiovascular disease prevention, diabetes care, and inclusive employment for young people with disabilities. Learn more about our work in the Philippines.

[1]In areas affected by Haiyan.