Zero Project launches call for 2017 nominations of Innovative Policies and Practices on Employment

The Zero Project is a large group of experts that come up with ideas to help persons with intellectual disabilities live without barriers and get around the problems in their daily lives.Each year they focus on a different area of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (in short, UN CRPD). In 2017 they will work to give persons with disabilities equal chance at getting jobs as everyone else. Having a job is very important to earn your own money, make friends and spend your time like everybody else. The Zero Project is interested in new policies and practices that will help them make jobs and training more accessible and inclusive. If you know of a policy and think it is good you can ask them to think about it by nominating it here. If you know of a new practice and think it is good you can ask them to think about it by nominating it here. You must get your vote in by 1 July.

The Zero Project, an initiative run by the Essl Foundation, aims to assist in creating a world without barriers for persons with disabilities. The Zero Project model provides a platform where the most innovative and effective solutions-based approaches to the problems that persons with disabilities face are exchanged.

Each year they focus the research and resources of their continuously growing network of over 3,000 disability experts in over 150 countries on a specific topic from the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UN CRPD). The theme of Zero Project’s work in 2017 is Employment, and Vocational Education and Training for which they have launched their call for nominations of innovative policies and practices.

Work is highly interconnected with other human rights issues, forming an inseparable and inherent part of our human dignity. Employment of persons with disabilities requires equal opportunities to earning a living in an open, inclusive and accessible environment.

All policies concerning any form of work, status of employment across all phases of employment are eligible for nomination. To view a list of policy examples click here.

To nominate a policy click here, the extended deadline is 1 July.

The Zero Project team is also inviting nominations of innovative practices concerning this year’s topic of Employment, Work and Vocational Education and Training. The “Innovative Practices and Innovative Policies 2016” will be selected by the Zero Project network of experts in a multi-step process. Their representatives will be invited to speak at the Zero Project Conference in Vienna (Austria) in February 2017 and their work will be featured in the Zero Project Report 2017. Self-nominations are accepted.

To nominate an innovative practice, click here. The deadline has been extended to 1 July.

In addition to hearing of interesting policies and practices, the Zero Project is open to referral of contacts to experts with whom they can exchange more on this topic. You can contact them at office@zeroproject.org