WorkWith: A Global Toolbox for an Inclusive Workplace

There is an inextricable link between disability and poverty. The World Health Organization estimates that 16% of the global population lives with a disability, and the United Nations Development Program asserts that 80% of people with disabilities live in low and middle-income countries. The International Labor Organization states that in low- and middle-income countries, up to 80-90% of people with disabilities are unemployed. This nexus between disability and poverty has devastating impacts on individuals with disabilities as well as massive collective costs: the global unemployment rate of this demographic results in an annual loss of USD $1.37-1.94 billion GDP.

One of the many barriers to employment for those with disabilities is the lack of accessibility and reasonable accommodation, which is an even greater issue in low- and middle-income countries. Crucially, employers lack the context-specific knowledge and examples to make their workplaces more accessible. Persons with disabilities are then further excluded from employment opportunities. 

While there are some great resources in North America and Europe that guide employers on how to adapt their workplaces to be inclusive, there are no comprehensive resources tailored to the differing needs and livelihood contexts in low- and middle-income countries for economic development stakeholders - e.g. non-governmental organisations (NGOs), employers, and entrepreneurs. Information on reasonable accommodation in an urban office in the United States or the United Kingdom simply is not relevant for people with disabilities working in rural agricultural fields in Kenya. 

Examples of accommodation exist everywhere, but there is not a way to share them broadly and systematically in a way that is applicable and would bridge the knowledge gap between different contexts.

WorkWith is an online platform that empowers NGOs, employment actors, and entrepreneurs to create accessible workspaces, tools and work methods for job seekers with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries. The global toolbox is a comprehensive resource to remove barriers for persons with disabilities, facilitating their entry into a desired profession in low-resource settings. It serves to disrupt the cycle of exclusion within the employment system and accelerate disability inclusion globally. 

www.WorkWithDisability.org

The information found within WorkWith is inspired by - and draws content from - “task adaptations,” an occupational therapy concept, or “reasonable accommodation" from workplace inclusion and accessibility. 

WorkWith is the world’s first digital database providing reasonable accommodation solutions for businesses, nonprofits and entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income countries.

WorkWith provides technical information about workplace inclusion and reasonable accommodation and allows users to develop a personalized guide to help them make their project, business, or organization more inclusive. 

The platform presents reasonable accommodations that can be categorized by disability and work tasks and includes photo documentation of different methods of accommodation from around the world.  Also included are general fact sheets targeting economic inclusion stakeholders and employers.  Having a centralized resource that can be adapted to different circumstances bridges the knowledge gap on reasonable accommodation between countries and tailors content to the work opportunities found in low-resource settings. 

The WorkWith platform aims to help non-experts realize that accommodation can be easy and to increase the ability of NGOs, employers, and entrepreneurs to work with people with disabilities around the world. For example, in Afghanistan, Humanity and Inclusion created low-cost prosthetic arms with farming tools attached. The toolbox will share this adaptation with other farmers, NGOs, and employers in developing countries so farmers with similar disabilities can obtain specialized prosthetics and continue to work.

• WorkWith is first digital database in the world of reasonable accommodation solutions for businesses, nonprofits and entrepreneurs in low- and middle-income countries.

• WorkWith aims to capture innovative workplace adaptations globally, organize them and share them with the world.

• WorkWith was born out of a competitive, disability-focused “design challenge” in which HI was one of 6 out of 480 submissions that won and received seed funding.

• The toolbox was initially developed with funding from and in partnership with human centered design firm IDEO.org.

This solution ultimately serves persons with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries who will benefit from the expanded inclusive employment opportunities offered by employers who utilize WorkWith. The impact of attaining employment is nothing short of transformational - from attaining an income to increased independence and self-esteem. Family members also gain when a person with disabilities is able to work.

Disability disproportionately affects more disadvantaged populations and on average, persons with disabilities are more likely to experience adverse socio-economic outcomes than persons without disabilities; thus, poverty is both a cause and consequence of disability. Disability is related to lower educational attainment, lower employment rates, and higher medical expenditures which put persons with disability at risk of experiencing multidimensional poverty.

WorkWith directly targets employment and livelihood opportunities for this demographic. It also supports development actors to make their projects more inclusive, reaching an even larger audience.  Users include:

• Mainstream economic development practitioners (those working in NGOs, local nonprofits or community-based organizations) who want to include participants with disabilities in their programs, giving people with disabilities more access to the benefits of development projects. 
• Organizations of persons with disabilities who are supporting people with disabilities in their communities as well as advocating for employment and accessibility
• Entrepreneurs or job seekers with disabilities
• Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies that want to hire employees with disabilities
• Frontline workers, such as field agents, extension workers, social workers, and community livelihood workers who provide direct support 
• Livelihoods stakeholders such as vocational training centers, financial service providers, governments and business incubators

Co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, HI is a 42-year-old independent and impartial organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. HI works alongside people with disabilities and vulnerable populations, taking action and bearing witness in order to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights. HI implements more than 450 projects in more than 50 low and middle-income countries annually; including over 80 economic inclusion projects in 50 countries in 2023.

HI worked in partnership with IDEO.org, which specializes in human-centered design, in developing the initial phase of WorkWith. Dozens of organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), vocational training centers, businesses, and other stakeholders in Nepal, Kenya and the US gave their time, attention and expertise throughout development of this tool. Persons with disabilities were directly involved throughout the process in building out design and content and as volunteers for user testing.

HI has the internal expertise on accessibility and inclusion to design a meaningful product and the global connections at national, organizational, and local levels necessary to reach a significant number of users and beneficiaries. 

HI has built the WorkWith infrastructure and shared it among internal field staff and technical experts in multiple countries. It comprises of over 100 unique accommodations from Bangladesh, Nepal, Kenya, Senegal and Tunisia, including hundreds of photos. Feedback has been very positive, but the platform needs additional content and refining in order to provide sufficient value to users. Next steps in developing the platform include the following:

• Adding additional examples that represent different contexts, sectors, and diversity to provide added values to users.
• Translating content into additional languages.
• Reorganizing content and refining functionality of the platform 

HI was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with IDEO and learned a lot about Human Centered Design and the development of online platforms. However, the process got stalled when it came to creating a business plan and rolling it out to users. HI and WorkWith will benefit from the support of Solve to build our capacity to create and operationalize a business model; measure the impact of the platform and also learn more about measuring impact of digital tools overall; and learn from a network others engaged in developing practical digital solutions to socio-economic problems. 

WorkWith offers a first-of-its-kind, user-friendly solution to two massive problems across low- and middle-income countries: lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities and lack of employers’ knowledge regarding making work accessible.

Employers, employment actors, and entrepreneurs currently do not have centralized tools, platforms, or documents for valuing and gathering a wide variety of reasonable accommodation examples appropriate for various contexts in low- and middle-income countries. But these examples do exist. Our solution creates an accessible database for discovering with just a few clicks what workplace adaptations and accommodations are possible, dramatically lowering the barrier for employers and employment stakeholders to expand employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. 

Companies, employment services providers, entrepreneurs, and organizations (from major international development organizations to local civil society organizations) identify workplace adaptations and accommodations that are relevant and achievable in their contexts. Users are reassured about the creative solutions and moderate costs of reasonable accommodations. They gain inspiration from the proposed examples and are more confident in recruiting people with disabilities or offering them services. 

More accessible employment contributes to increased employment of persons with disabilities in these settings. Utilization of WorkWith increases the practice of making workplaces accessible, creating more useful examples, leading to a virtuous cycle of inclusive employment.

This solution reflects the targets included within Sustainable Development Goal 8 - Decent Work in Economic Growth

Target 8.3. Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services

Target 8.5. By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value

WorkWith contributes to these targets with the following objectives:

1. Employers, entrepreneurs, employment services and organizations access examples of reasonable accommodations. They feel more confident in providing tailored reasonable accommodations and are motivated to become more inclusive.

2. Users report hiring more people with disabilities.

Measurement and Monitoring:

• For existing version:
  • User needs assessment for refining/updating the tool and the business model
  • User tests
• After the launch:
  • Website traffic (Yearly/monthly)
  • Satisfaction survey (every 6 months at for first 2 years, then annually)
  • Number of requests to HI for technical support on inclusive recruitment 
  • Annual requests to users on hiring statistics
  • Focus groups held with users and employees after a period of time to be determined

WorkWith leverages typical website and database technology. We use PHP as a language and Javascript on the front page.

Front End: HTML/CSS/JavaScript

Back End: PHP, MYSQL (with Wordpress).

Currently, there are 2-3 full-time HI staff who give a small percentage of their time to this project as need be. If the project is to be successful moving forward, HI would need a dedicated project manager with technical expertise to work with existing IT, finance, and administrative staff. 

Humanity & Inclusion (HI) initially developed this solution as a response to a “design challenge” that IDEO.org released in 2017. The challenge read, “How might we reduce stigma and increase opportunities for people with disabilities?”

Upon winning, HI worked in partnership with IDEO to design WorkWith until 2021. When the prototype was completed, next steps were identified, but due to lack of funding, staff turnover, and competing priorities, it has been on hold. We are extremely eager to move forward and hope MIT Solve will be our opportunity to make this idea a success.

Developing this solution requires a multinational team, including colleagues from the low- and middle-income countries, and active participation of persons with disabilities in developing and testing the platform.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion is built into the HI mission. HI identities as the leading international aid organization promoting the rights and inclusion of persons with disabilities across all levels of society. With hundreds of active projects in more than 50 low- and middle-income countries worldwide, HI raises awareness on disability inclusion among the public; engages with local, national, and multinational authorities to develop and implement disability inclusive policies; and collaborates with local partners in implementing initiatives that create opportunities for persons with disabilities to get vital health care, get an education, earn a livelihood, and advocate on their own behalf.

HI has developed a number of institutional policies which provide an essential reference framework for our statutory mission. These policies apply first and foremost to HI staff. However, they also include provisions that apply to the other stakeholders in our activities, especially our public, private or associative partners, and companies that provide us with goods and services

The list and content of each policy can be found here: https://www.hi.org/en/institutional-policies  

It includes:

- HI’s policy on Disability, Gender and Age. This policy sets forth HI’s different levels of commitment with regard to Disability, Gender & Age, and the changes to be made in how the organization works, including with its partners. These commitments apply to the whole HI network and are to be taken into account at operational, technical and advocacy levels, and notably in technical and operational strategies and programming policies.

- Be Hinclusive, an internal project aiming at making HI an organization recognized for its inclusiveness in terms of employment of persons with disabilities

As stated previously, in regards to this specific solution (not the whole organization), support for defining and operationalizing a business model is a primary anticipated benefit of engagement with and mentorship from the MIT Solve program. Currently, HI staff anticipate the business model involving a combination of grant funding and fees for use. HI expects a significant number of users due to the increase in attention to diversity and inclusion at every level of development work and in the private sector. 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities has been ratified by nearly every country in world. The Sustainable Development Goals is the first global development framework to explicitly mention people with disabilities and include this demographic in targets and indicators. The United Nations' Disability Inclusion Strategy was launched in June 2019 and calls for inclusion across all UN agencies, including programming, hiring and human resources, and organizational culture. It has become common for companies to hire staff responsible specifically for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. All of these examples serve to highlight how the global trend to strongly encourage inclusion for people with disabilities in skill development and work. 

HI is currently developing a disability inclusion technical offer to employers and service providers and this solution could be offered to them as part of the technical assistance package for a fee. HI has provided technical assistance through 48 contracts between 2021 and 2023. Through these types of contracts related specifically to economic inclusion, the financial turnover was 77,140 Euros.

Concerning this specific solution (not the whole organization), as stated previously, support for defining and operationalizing a business model will be necessary for success. HI anticipates a significant number of users due to the increase in attention to diversity and inclusion at every level of development work and in the private sector. 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities has been ratified by every country in world except for two. The Sustainable Development Goals is the first global development framework to explicitly mention people with disabilities and include this demographic in targets and indicators. The United Nations' Disability Inclusion Strategy was launched in June 2019 and calls for inclusion across all UN agencies, including programming, hiring and human resources, and organizational culture. It has become common for companies to hire staff responsible specifically for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. All of these examples servie to highlight how the global trend to strongly encourage inclusion for people with disabilities in skill development and work. 

HI is currently developing a disability inclusion technical offer to employers and service providers and this solution could be offered to them as part of the technical assistance package for a fee. HI has provided technical assistance through 48 contracts between 2021 and 2023.