Enabling Masterplan 2030: Training & Employment for Persons with Disabilities
16 Sep 2022
The recently released Enabling Masterplan 2030 is a national roadmap guiding efforts to create a more inclusive Singapore by 2030. How has SG Enable advanced disability inclusion since the release of the 3rd Enabling Masterplan (EMP3) five years ago? How will we work with partners to achieve this 2030 goal? Read on to find out!
This article is the first in a three-part series.
Strengthening support for lifelong learning
Progress since EMP3
Since 2017, we have worked with training partners to increase the availability of training courses for persons with disabilities.
We offered more funding support to trainees with disabilities and their employers. The Temasek Trust-CDC Lifelong Learning Enabling Fund was set up in 2021 to support adults with disabilities on their learning journey. Besides administering the fund, we work closely with social service agency partners and mainstream training providers to curate and develop more courses for persons with disabilities to continue their learning and develop their skills post their schooling years.
The Open Door Programme (ODP) Training Grant was also enhanced in 2020 to provide more funding support to employers who send their employees with disabilities for training. Between 2014 and 2021, more than 2,800 persons with disabilities received employment-related training under ODP.
Working towards the 2030 Goal
Building on this momentum, we launched Enabling Academy in May 2022. This disability learning hub rallies partners from the education, business, and disability sectors to provide responsive and quality learning opportunities for persons with disabilities, and to enable their network of support through training.
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Our CEO, Ms Ku Geok Boon, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Social and Family Development,
Mr Eric Chua, and our Chairman, Mr Moses Lee at the launch of Enabling Academy in May 2022.
Enabling Academy will also develop an Enabling Skills Framework, a resource on training pathways for learners with disabilities and training providers. It will connect like-minded stakeholders to bring new ideas and capabilities into the disability training space so that persons with disabilities can access more and better choices for lifelong learning.
Enhancing employment in a fast-changing economy
Progress since EMP3
To ease the transition of students with disabilities into the workforce, the School-to-Work Transition Programme – a collaboration between the Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and SG Enable – offers customised training pathways and work options for them. Since its first pilot in 2014, it has expanded to cover all 15 special education (SPED) schools which support students up to the age of 18. Close to 75% of the students in the programme have been successfully employed, with more than 70% of them staying employed for at least six months.
We also started the Hospital-to-Work programme in 2014. This programme supports persons with acquired disabilities, such as victims of serious motor or industrial accidents, and patients with medical conditions that resulted in disability, in their transition to employment. To date, we have supported more than 330 persons with disabilities in their return to work.
On the employer front, the Enabling Employers Awards that acknowledged inclusive employers was developed into an accreditation and learning framework. In 2020, we launched the Enabling Mark; this national-level accreditation framework benchmarks and recognises organisations for their best practices and outcomes in disability-inclusive employment. It also provides a systematic learning framework for employers to improve their inclusive employment practices and culture, and incentivises other organisations to become inclusive employers.
Working towards the 2030 Goal
Beyond facilitating the transition from school to work, we will strengthen the transition from school to community services such as Day Activity Centres (DACs) and sheltered workshops. A Multi-Agency Transition Meeting was prototyped with MOE, MSF and SG Enable to facilitate more person-centred handovers, with a focus on appreciating the strengths, interest and goals of SPED graduates. This will be open to all SPED schools, MSF-funded DACs and sheltered workshops by end 2022.
In the years ahead, we will continue to partner social service agencies to reach out to jobseekers with disabilities and place them in jobs suited to their strengths.
A taskforce will also be formed to support employment for persons with disabilities by exploring alternative employment models and increasing the number of organisations that commit to disability-inclusive employment through the President’s Challenge Enabling Employment Pledge and the Enabling Mark.
There are various business benefits to hiring persons with disabilities. Download a complimentary copy of the latest Singapore study on the benefits of inclusive hiring here.
Sign the President's Challenge Enabling Employment Pledge today to affirm your commitment and apply for the Enabling Mark when you hire inclusively!