The Rotary Club of Ulaanbaatar Peace Avenue provided advanced computer training including PHOTOSHOP, CORELDRAW, and InDesign to movement-impaired people in Mar 2014. The club awarded District Grant and District 3450 granted US$D3,700 for this project.
The Mongolian government is implementing policies to increase employment opportunities for disabled people, there is still a lack of dedicated jobs and training for them. Disabled people are seen in the Mongolian community as a burden, because they receive pensions and are not able to work, which makes it even more difficult for them to learn new skills and get employed. However, handicapped employees are no different from normal employees, if they are in the right job; they even tend to be active, punctual, and accurate. There are no special training centers with access to handicapped people in Mongolia. Also, training courses are expensive, so it makes it difficult for people with a wheelchair to get skills to improve their lives. Also, many disabled people live on the outskirts of the city, thus it is a challenge for them to reach the city center by bus or by taxi. Therefore, the purpose of the project was to provide dedicated training for movement-impaired people.
Our club members wanted to continue the project “Improving Skills and Improving Lives”. This time we wanted to pay attention to movement-impaired people. Therefore, we established a team and started to do brainstorm for this project. We discussed what kind of training will be suitable for movement-impaired people. Team members suggested lots of ideas, for instance, felt craft training so that they can learn how to make souvenirs and felt shoes; sewing training so that they can learn how to make traditional clothes; and TV presenter training so they will be able to record soundtracks for translated movies or read audiobooks and host radio programs; advanced computer programs and etc. We chose advanced computer training because movement-impaired people can work from home.
The team members of the Rotary Club of Ulaanbaatar Peace Avenue announced an advanced computer training for one month and promoted it to a targeted group of people. We interviewed over 80 applications and selected only 15 participants. We did not find a computer training center with wheelchair access, so we cooperated with the Mongolian National Association for Wheelchair Users and they provided a suitable training venue with equipment that is wheelchair friendly and easy to get. District Grant US$7,923 covered the following costs such as all participants’ computer training payments, materials for training (3 textbooks, a flash disk, printing training materials, making a calendar), transportation (taxi fare), lunch and coffee break. The Club’s role was to facilitate and organize the training while monitoring the performance of the teacher and supporting the participants.
After completion of this advanced computer training, participants learned the intermediate level of knowledge on how to do a green book, logo, banner, name card, website, and graphic design of the organization, workbook, magazine cover, and many more tools using designing programs. Therefore, the skilled and independent citizens, whose lives are improved, would be the project outcome. Moreover, we have promoted the graduates to the public using social media and national television so that they can be hired as well as putting their resumes on the number of job postings.
