The objective of this initiative, which is among the services provided by the Astangu Vocational Rehabilitation Centre (Astangu Kutserehabilitatsiooni Keskus), is to find suitable employment for clients with disabilities in cooperation with employment specialists. It is intended that clients who have learned new skills during their vocational training will enter the open labour market, work in a regular environment and be capable of maintaining a job.

Aims of the initiative

This initiative arose out of the need to provide equal opportunities and to combat social exclusion among people with disabilities. The target group of the initiative are students and graduates of the Astangu Vocational Rehabilitation Centre, which provides social and vocational rehabilitation to people with all kinds of disabilities. The aim is to support the client during the jobseeking process and also to offer support in maintaining their employment.

The initiative is concerned with the delivery of services and with policy development; it does not consider organisational change.

Description

The main activities of the initiative are to provide clients with support in:

• finding a job – support in searching for information, communicating with the employer and organising trial days;
• starting employment – informing the employer about labour market services and possibilities for adjusting work and the workplace depending on the client’s needs; counselling for the employer and staff; work with the client’s support network;
• maintaining employment – continuing support for the employer and the employee.

The Ministry of Social Affairs (Sotsiaal Ministeerium) is responsible for the initiative. Every client is approached and supported individually. It is important that the client actively participates in the process. Overall, the initiative caters for about 30 clients a year, 70% of whom are men and 30% of whom are women.

The specialist support services provided by the Astangu Vocational Rehabilitation Centre constitute part of a state project which aims to pilot the different employment services by using an individual approach methodology. The project also aims to evaluate the services’ efficiency in enabling the employment of disabled people. Two employment specialists have been assigned to work as experts in supported employment methodology. The goal of the project is to create an employment scheme for disabled people and to demonstrate this using the supported employment model. The project team will present their conclusions and proposals to the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Estonian Labour Market Board (Tööturuamet). The aim of the proposals is to ensure that the supported employment service should be underpinned by legislation.

It should be noted that since employment services and career counselling for disabled people are relatively new and still in the development phase in Estonia, it is difficult to find good case studies. Essentially, every initiative in this field is new in Estonia. The labour market offices and some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) provide favourable services, but these have not been made available to people with disabilities.

Outcomes

One of the main outcomes is that clients are more confident and can properly evaluate their abilities and skills. In addition, clients are more familiar with the jobseeking process and are better able to maintain their employment. The final outcome is that clients find a suitable job and can therefore enter the open labour market.

Case management is a methodology which is based on an individualised approach. Up until a couple of years ago, the services of the state employment offices were extremely formal for clients and not very helpful in (re)integrating people with disabilities into the labour market. A more individualised approach has since been introduced, supporting employment services for people with disabilities after they have completed their vocational training at the Astangu Vocational Centre. A number of other NGOs in Estonia also provide similar supported employment services for the target group in question.

Delivery

The nature of the services are specialised; in other words, the initiative provides a customised service for people with disabilities outside of the mainstream counselling services.

The main options offered by this initiative include:

• the provision of information and advice to jobseekers;
• checking suitability for employment and social inclusion services;
• individual career planning;
• assessment and exploration;
• case management and advocacy;
• job preparation;
• job matching and placement;
• post-placement support and job coaching;
• progress and process management.

Qualifications and standards

The staff have basic professional qualifications in counselling people with disabilities.

The counselling service is not subject to national quality standards; however, it does operate according to an internally recognised quality system.

The initiative applies all four principles of case management:

• active coordination of services ;
• negotiation and mediation;
• monitoring of progress;
• evaluation of employment options.

Relationship to other programmes

The Estonian Action Plan for Growth and Jobs (320Kb PDF) outlines the government’s main objectives for raising Estonia’s competitiveness in 2005–2007. The programme is based on guidelines from the EU and the European Commission, and forms the basis for the government’s annual working schemes. The latter contain a detailed plan of activities for implementing the programme. Goals and measures of the action programme are funded by the state budget.

For further information see the:

• website of the State Chancellery of the Republic of Estonia (available in English);
• Objective 8, p. 48 of the Estonian Action Plan for Growth and Jobs.