By rebecca trujillo | directora
To give employment support to the person with disABILITY (PWD) Familias Especiales (FE) has developed two structural systems. 1. The Godmother/God Father System and 2. The Social Labor System. For every 8 persons with disABILITY we have one worker that serves as their Godmother or God Father. These are mothers or fathers of children with a disABILITY who have become proficient at their job and so can work with others to help them improve their production and answer any questions that they might have about the work situation. Their presence on the job site has given tremendous support to both the person with a disABILITY and to all workers as they help bring about awareness of the abilities and the needs of the person with a disABILITY at the same time.
The Social Labor System is directed by a psychologist, Karla, who works with all the programs in FE and with businesses in the community of Matagalpa, to ensure that the person with a disABILITY can adjust to the work and that the programs are sensitive to the abilities and needs of PWD. She is also part of the Social Unit and recruits and evaluates new applicants for work. Applicants learn how to do job interviews and how to write up their resumes to apply for a jobs.
The Social Unit works to identify PWD that have potential for employment. Karla works with new applicants to discover their abilities and needs, then she tries to match them with jobs available. Her work includes close relationships with their families. There are many different ways that she can help a person become more employable. For instance recently she was able to help one young woman get glasses then she could apply for a job with more confidence.
Karla has the great gift to be able to see young people grow and improve through their employment. This is very rewarding for everyone involved. There are times when it is not so easy as she needs to help each person individually to learn the culture of work and to be able to be productive. Karla also works with the God Mothers/Fathers to become more effective in their work with the PWD. Often it is little obstacles that are encountered in this journey to become productive workers. She works to arrange transportation and nutrition services as well as helping people understand the culture of the PWD. For instance what makes the workplace more accessible for a blind person is not always the same as what makes the work place accessible for a person in a wheel chair. To place people in jobs in FE is a real advantage but when it involves jobs in other places like a coffee factory, it becomes very critical work. Right now because of the social political crisis in Nicaragua, Karla’s work has almost exclusively been in FE and many who were placed in community businesses or factories have been laid off. So Karla has been kept busy trying to help people retain their jobs and improve their productivity. Karla’s position is very important to the success of the PWD. She meets continually with the multidisciplinary social staff and with the small business coordinators to make sure that things are running smoothly and to deal with any emergencies that might come up. It really takes coordinated effort to help each PWD find their right spot in the labor market and even more challenging to make businesses aware of the abilities and needs of the PWD.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
