This year, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) focuses on the empowerment of persons with disabilities for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development as anticipated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which pledges to ‘leave no one behind’ and recognizes disability as a cross-cutting issues, to be considered in the implementation of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Disability is referenced in various parts of the SDGs and specifically in parts related to education, growth and employment, inequality, accessibility of human settlements, as well as data collection and monitoring of the SDGs.

In Serbia, the joint project of the UN Team in Serbia is focused on three priority areas concerning the rights of persons with disabilities in the Republic of Serbia - equality before the law, equality of women and girls with disabilities and right to work, in line with the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The results and activities are deeply based on the normative framework of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from 2006.

UNDP works on improving inclusion of persons with disabilities in the labour market, through capacity building in order to overcome challenges related to employment of persons with disabilities ant testing innovative models of employment of PWDs. More than 100 people with disabilities have passed through the capacity-building program, and within six months of the pilot phase of the supported employment, 19 disabled people have found a job. In this video you can see how Supported empoloyment works in practice.