Ongoing endeavours of civil society have brought issues of disability and employment to the forefront of the national agenda, President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said today.

Opening the European Conference on Inclusive Workplaces, hosted by the Malta Federation of Organisations Persons with Disability and the Malta Association for Supported Employment, she said leadership shown by civil society stakeholders has proved that people with disability, through their diverse abilities, can be powerful contributors to the workforce.

The strengthening of the participation of persons with disability in employment is being reflected by a general expansion of the Maltese workforce.

According to data from Malta’s National Statistics Office, the numbers of people gainfully occupied, including both full and part-time, increased by nine percent last year, she said.

The participation of persons with disabilities in this increase is, in no small way, due to the effective strategies adopted by Maltese authorities.

For example, it is because of the great success of the Supported Employment Programme that a much needed review has begun, in the way our country is developing a more inclusive workforce.

Thanks to the Malta Association of Supported Employment, established by the Malta Federation of Persons with Disability, working hand in hand with our policy-makers and national authorities, we have started formulating a systematic response to the inclusion of all people deemed “vulnerable”, in some way, within employment.

The Programme, which the president said touched the lives of hundreds of people between 2015 and 2016, is now reaching an even broader number of individuals through the LEAP! Agency.

It is important, she said, that countries continue to appraise and review, as necessary, their policies and strategies.