The short promotional film “In the arena” will contribute to raising awareness of the Montenegrin society about the work capabilities of people with disabilities (PWD) and will show that employers in Montenegro have no reason to be sceptical when it comes to employing that population.

That was announced at the promotion of a short promotional film, made within the project “Job without a barrier – a chance for people with visual impairment”, which is being realized by the Centre for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) in cooperation with the Montenegrin Association of the Blind, with the support of the Employment Agency of Montenegro.

The Executive Director of CeMI, Nikoleta Djukanovic, said that the in the film they wanted to show the key results achieved by realizing this project and “especially point out the significance of work and work abilities that our colleagues, PWD, showed, who worked with us for the past six months”.

“By pointing out work skills, the results achieved by users of this project, with this film we want to influence and encourage other PWD to get employed, to get educated to a greater extent, to gain work experience, to make their careers and be active and take more self-initiative in society. On the other hand, we want to draw the attention of employers, who often have barriers and prejudices when it comes to hiring PWD”, pointed out Djukanovic.

She said that in the composition of CeMI, in the previous years, there were PWD, stating that their commitment, dedication, openness, initiative, skills and working abilities, endless collegiality and good intentions are the best evidence “that we need to free ourselves of the fictitious and unfounded barriers when it comes to hiring PWD and encourage them and the employers so as to make Montenegro a better place for work and living to all its citizens”.

The Executive Director of the Montenegrin Association of the Blind, Goran Macanovic, evaluated that employing PWD is one of the many ways of eliminating the exclusion of these people and a good way to create conditions for themselves to create new values through their work engagement “and secure their’s and their family's existence which makes them active participants of society.”

“It makes PWD themselves feel useful to society on the one hand, and on the other, the society gets a lot out of PWD because their work engagement decreases their dependency on the social system and through their work it gains new values, develops and advances”, pointed out Macanovic.

He said that he is sure that the film will give a great contribution to developing the level of awareness in Montenegrin society about the work capabilities of PWD and it will, as he said, show that employers in Montenegro have no reason to be sceptical when they wish to hire PWD.

“I am sure that PWD can be equally and sometimes even better workers than PWD”, stated Macanovic.

The representative of the Employment Agency of Montenegro, Denis Martinovic, reminded that since the  Rulebook on the procedure and methodology for financing grant schemes entered into force, the Agency announced seven public calls for financing projects that employ PWD, with a total value of 10,5 million euros.

“Through the realization of these projects, 900 people attended different types of training programmes which contributed to increasing their competitiveness on the job market. What is important to point out is that besides the key activities such as training and employment of persons with disabilities, through these projects a high number of promotional activities that contribute to raising awareness of the public about the possibilities and benefits of employing PWD was also realized”, said Martinovic.

According to his words, after the realization of a number of projects of hiring PWD, their implementation has, as he evaluated, significantly contributed to increasing the number of employers that hire people with disabilities and use subsidies, in accordance with The Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of People with Disabilities.

“With that, the degree of using the resources of the Fund for professional rehabilitation and hiring of PWD was increased”, stated Martinovic.

The representative of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Aleksandra Popovic, thinks that employing PWD should be looked like a thing that considers: the creation of comprehensive conditions regarding the accessibility of the physical environment, information, communication, and other conditions for unhindered performance of work tasks.

“The government of Montenegro adopted the Strategy for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities From Discrimination and Promotion of Equality 2017-2021, with the Action Plan for 2017, within which the measures in the field of employment were realized and the new Action Plan for 2019/20 asserted new measures that will contribute to decreasing the discrimination of PWD among other things in the area of professional rehabilitation and employment”, stated Popovic.

She reminded about the research results of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and which show, as she stated, that PWD still have the hardest time in realizing their rights in the area of employment, accessibility to public surfaces, public objects, public transportation “and even access to information”.

Popovic said that in practice, hiring PWD depends on a lot of factors, evaluating that it was important for unemployed PWD to use opportunities for education, vocational training, and lifelong learning.

“On the other side, employers are those who have to recognize the work capabilities of PWD and make possible for them to get employed. We all always have to be aware that the problem of disability is not just an individual thing but a concern of the entire society that is deeply connected to the respect of human rights”, pointed out Popovic.

The director of the short promotional film “In the Arena”, Mladen Ivanovic, said that within the film he wanted to relay and bring closer the barriers that employers, as well as PWD, have, and connect it so that “we are closer to each other”.

“As I am myself a witness that each type of ignorance, or rather, barrier, carries with itself lots of connotations, a society that is small, because of those barriers, cannot overcome them. That is why I believe that these activities are very important because we get to the core of problems and try to erase them”, stated Ivanovic.

He said that his mission was to be the voice in social questions.

“So, to be someone who can be a medium for those who need it and who do not have the possibility to show it”, said Ivanovic.

The short promotion film “In the Arena” was produced by PR & MEDIA CONSULTANCY.

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