On December 7^th 2017, the Career Center of the Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech dedicated an event to the employability of youth with disabilities. This topic is a major focus of Career Center, which has adopted an inclusive approach to youth employability.

More than 35 young people responded to the call to discuss this issue with disability specialists, including representatives of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Disabled of Marrakech, the Agency for Social Development, the Moroccan Association of Disabled Persons for Development and Sport, the Foundation for the Mobility of Persons with Disabilities in Marrakech, and the Abi El Abbass Sebti Institute for the Blind of Marrakech.

The event provided the opportunity for university students to increase their awareness about disability and proactively think, together with youth with disabilities, of solutions to promote inclusiveness.

“This day is very special, we had the opportunity to get a grasp of the issues related to disability on an academic level as well as in the world of work. Through the discussions and workshops, I found out the simplest things such [improving] accessibility can make a great change”, said Majda Mansouki, a third year student in English Literature at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech.

During this event, youth and disability experts worked together to develop proposals to better integrate people with disabilities into the university and the world of work. The participants drafted their proposals into a charter to be presented to the president of Cadi Ayyad University and private sector stakeholders.

The Regional Coordinator for the Agency for Social Development in Marrakech, Badia Safi-Eddine, praised the event, saying “This is the first time I participated in an event that was designed both for and by people with disabilities. I congratulate the Career Center for this initiative.”

This event was an opportunity to present the Career Center to the network Moroccan Universities for Inclusive Education and initiate new collaborations with civil society organizations working on the issue of disability. In the week following the event, collaboration with the Abi El Abbass Sebti Institute continued when seven blind students from the Institute tested a pilot and provided feedback on online training modules on soft skills adapted for visually or hearing impaired people. USAID Career Center is working to improve the accessibility of the modules, thereby helping Career Center achieve its mission of making its services accessible to all Moroccan youth, regardless of ability.

Learn more about USAID Career Center here.