SeminarBudapest

The Hungarian Association of Sheltered Workshops organized together with Workability Europe a very successful conference about the employment situation for persons with disabilities.

The conference was attended by 60 representatives of Hungarian and international organizations. Contributions were made by:

• Dr. Gábor Pósfai                             Director General of National Office for Rehabilitation and Social Affairs (NRSZH)
• Erzsébet Földesi; Mrs. Szőllősi         Vice President of European Disability Forum (EDF)
• György Habsburg                           Chairman of the Hungarian Red Cross

The Director general of the National Office for Rehabilitation and Social Affairs was explaining headlines of the new Hungarian policy for sheltered and supported employment and rehabilitation.

The EDF Vice President underlined the needs to implement the new legislation in the perspective of the UN regulation. The Hungarian government has already ratified these regulations, but it is now time for real implementation.

Members of Workability Europe gave an overview of the systems in other European countries. like France and The Netherlands.

Mr. Habsburg. explained the working of the Red Cross in the World and how they have structured their European activities.

Excellent examples of the Red Cross activities for guiding people with disability and other disadvantaged groups to the labor market were given. One of the outcomes of the Conference is that VSZOSZ and the Hungarian Red Cross will work more in cooperation.

The participants from Hungary raised a lot of questions about the current situation and the coming transformation period.

The concrete demands were formulated as:

•  
  • reduce a lot of not necessary administrative regulations,
  • more awareness and flexibility in regulations to place people with a disability in mainstream employment
  • be fair in budgeting for wage compensation guidance, in test and training services and in improving the knowledge of specialists.
 give the Hungarian sheltered employment companies an equal chance on the labor market and let them participate in work for communities and government,

In the common conclusion of the conference Mr. Zoltán Balogh and Mr. Hans Vrind Workability Europe stated that change need:

• a system to support all participants/ stakeholders
• time and some extra budget for the temporary costs
• a lot of communication

The participants were at the end very satisfied with the presented information and the approach of VSZOSZ during the seminar to support them.

All activities are a contribution to strenghten the position of people with a disability on the labor market.

Workability Europe is with 45 members in 24 countries championing the rights to work for 1.5 million people with a disabily with 45 members in 24 European countries.