In April 2021, Skills Bank collaborated with the ILO for the second time. This time, the mission was to design and implement training programs for the “Capacity Building Programme for Leads of the Women with Disabilities." This project was divided into two goals; the first being to create a comprehensive and briefing brochure for women with disabilities (WWD) that include:

• List of advisory services available in Egypt to orient WWD seeking jobs.
• Map for the training services and opportunities available in Egypt for WWD to improve their employ-ability.

The second mission was to create and deliver training programs on gender equality at work, discrimination, disability and employment, entrepreneurship, and ILO women's economic empowerment.

The Challenge

That project was full of challenges, but let us walk you through the major ones.

• Our first challenge was to collect an enormous amount of data for the brochure in such a short period. To tackle that challenge, we used different methods to gather as much information as possible from governmental entities, NGOs, international organizations, and private sectors. We conducted intensive research on all available social media channels and contacted HR Managers and company directors who hired WWD, experts in women with disabilities’ issues, and currently employed women with disabilities. After that wide scale of data gathering, we successfully created a brochure that provides comprehensive insights about companies that provide jobs for WWD, needed qualifications for the job market, the best work environment for them, challenges they usually face, and how they expect governments and NGOs to support them.

• The second challenge was one of a kind for us. When we first started preparing for WWD, we found out that the special needs of our participants are not unified. Some were visually impaired, some had down syndrome, some had hearing impairment issues, and some had other health impairments. The challenge was to design and deliver an experiential training experience that is interactive and engaging for participants with different special needs. It was not easy. However, thanks to the Skills Bank team, we delivered the required topics in the most convenient way to every WWD by customizing the material, delivery, and facilities according to every special need we had. That was impressive for the ILO decision-makers, and it was enough to push for them to ask us for a contract extension for one more round, while the initial contract covered only one.