Career Counseling Program for Blind and Visually Impaired Women

Career counseling program was organized in the funding support of Sankalpa Women's Alliance for Peace, Justice and Democracy, in 8th and 9th September, 2018 in the hall of Universal Café Nepal, Sukedhara, Kathmandu. The main beneficiaries of the program were 15 young blind and visually impaired women studying in bachelors and masters level who belong to different parts of the country and are staying inside Kathmandu valley for educational purpose. The career counseling program was conducted to provide proper guidance to young blind and visually impaired women about the careers. Mainstream career counseling centers are hesitant to provide proper counseling to these students in the lack of knowledge and expertise on the possibility of different career options for them. So, in this regard, this career counseling workshop has accommodated the career specific needs of young blind and visually impaired women. Output of the Program: blind and visually impaired women got guidance on various career options; Skill assessment of the participant has been conducted by human resource specialist which can be used for identifying and connecting them with employment opportunities; Job seeker blind and visually impaired women have been connected with organizations such as merojob, homenet who can act as bridge for them in seeking employment opportunities; Access Planet's relation with employment providers, experts and organization working in employment sector has been increased; Career counseling session helped blind and visually impaired women in identifying and reexamining their career. The Program helped in assessing their skills which can be the way forward for connecting them with possible employers. During the planning phase of implementation of this training, Access Planet was able to sit in a meeting with Homenet Nepal who has committed to target people with disabilities as their beneficiaries in the upcoming days. Similarly, also as the planning for implementing this program, the first meeting with Federation of Nepal Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) was conducted where we got very positive response from FNCCI that they will do from their level to convince and motivate corporate houses and industries under them for hiring blind and visually impaired people as their employers. During this program, our relation with employer providers and with the organizations related to employment has improved significantly which will be the way forward for the future to advocate for the employment of blind and visually impaired women.