Motivated for a new life
A disability should not hinder an active working career. It is all about training and motivation. Norwegian company Fretex is helping Russians with disabilities prepare themselves for a new life as full-time workers.
People with disabilities are often overlooked when competing for jobs with people with no disabilities. However, they may be just as skilled as any other worker. Their good qualities must be strengthened so that they can compete with others, but the most important preparation takes place in the mind of each participant and their belief in their own abilities.
This was the basic idea when Norwegian company Fretex established a training programme for Russians with disabilities. The aim of the programme was to prepare these people for full-time work back home in Russia.
Service industry
Through work training, Norwegian language courses, and education in Norwegian working methods, the programme aimed at training the participants in special skills, thus making them attractive on the job market.
- We especially focus on the service industry, with the goal of preparing them for work in Norwegian businesses in Russia, maybe in tourism or something similar, says Karstein Kristiansen in Fretex North-Norway.
Fretex is owned by the Norwegian Salvation Army and has for many years run a job training programme for Norwegians. In 2003, the Murmansk Employment Service contacted Fretex about this project and wanted to initiate a programme for Russians needing job training.
After the Murmansk Employment Service opened its centre for people with disabilities in Murmansk in 2007, the project plans speeded up. Financial support from The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration and The Norwegian Barents Secretariat made it possible to realize the project.
Unique skills
Kristiansen explains that young Russians with disabilities have great difficulties on the job market in their home country. Few companies make adjustments for hiring people with disabilities.
- Even though there is a law on hiring at least 2% personnel with disabilities in companies with over 100 employees, very few companies actually fulfill these requirements, says Kristiansen.
The focus is therefore on training the project participants so that their disabilities are no longer an issue when applying for a job. The focus is on the unique skills each person possesses and how they can develop these skills. The project has focused on young people, since they have a long working career ahead of them. The programme starts with language courses in Russia, and then continues in Norway with job training and seminars. The job training has been performed in both private companies and public institutions in Norway and Russia.
A new start
Kristiansen reports that the programme has been a success for most of the participants. Out of ten participants in the first two courses, seven are now in jobs or in other job training. Several of these have very complicated disabilities.
- We consider these numbers to be a confirmation of the success of this project.
For the project initiators, the most important experience gained from the programme has been seeing the great role motivation plays in job training.
- We see that the single most important factor for these people is motivation. Health is really a secondary factor to most of them, and the idea of a permanent job with better life quality and economic independence is vital in gaining this motivation. When the participants start to believe in this, health issues stop blocking their opportunities, says Kristiansen.
He highlights one story of a 21-year old boy with CP who had lived at home with his mother his entire life. His social life was very limited; the only contact he had was with his mother and he stayed at home most of the time.
With the help of this project he could prove to himself and others that he could take responsibility for and control of his own life. He learned a new language and learned how to work in a team with others. He is now working three days a week at a printing office, and the once shy young man has become independent and socially active. This programme has totally changed his life and given him a new start, says Kristiansen.
Successful cooperation
Kristiansen is very satisfied with the successful co-operation with the Federal Employment Service in Murmansk; they have established a common understanding and basis for the project. With the success of the first course, more and more people have become aware of the programme and engaged themselves in its continuation. All parties of the project are now very focused on running more courses through this programme.
The positive results of the co-operation have also opened the opportunity to establish a Fretex office in Murmansk. Originally it was supposed to be owned by Fretex North-Norway, but now the Salvation Army in Russia has agreed to be owner. They will of course receive guidance from Fretex Norway and the Norwegian Salvation Army, and Kristiansen believes that this will further strengthen their co-operation. In time he hopes that this can lead the way to the establishment of Fretex offices in several Russian cities.