The training empowers persons with disabilities to achieve self-reliance and enhances their professional skills and knowledge base to overcome the barriers and challenges they face in the labour market such as  discrimination, stigma, and a lack of access.

Several participants expressed their eagerness to share the skills and knowledge they had gained from the training with their peers in their district. Olivier Nachulondo,  a member of the Tonka Twende for Persons with Disabilities group in Chisamba district, shared, “We are going to turn the clock the other way around, because whatever I have learnt here, I will definitely have to go and disseminate to my friends so that they can also know that even though we have the same type of business as other people, we can add value on our produce so we can sell and thrive on the market.”

With nine more provinces to go, the UNDP Resident Representative, James Wakiaga, is optimistic that the training programme will have life-changing impact  for persons with disabilities across  the country, noting:

“UNDP has a clear mandate to advance the core principles of the UN Charter and support disability inclusive development through the twin complementary frameworks of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are mutually inclusive. As the development arm of the UN system, UNDP is spearheading a paradigm shift from a welfarist perception of disability to promoting economic empowerment and self-reliance”.