Building Consensus – 1st ILO GBDN-China Annual Conference Held in Shanghai

Header Graphics
2 Jan 2020

To review and summarize the progress made by its 18 company members over the past one and a half years, the ILO Global Business and Disability Network – China Chapter (GBDN-China) held its first annual conference on 4-6 December 2019 in Shanghai. Best practices on disability inclusion were shared among enterprises within the network with a view to promote the development of Chinese businesses in a sustainable and inclusive way.

Round table discussions were held and experiences were shared on the topics of the business cases of disability inclusion, practices on diversified management of employees with visual impairments as well as the development of employee resource groups on disability / accessibility.

To establish an enabling environment for inclusive workplaces and vocational training for youth with disabilities aged 18-30, a project titled “Path to success: Create a strong eco-system for persons with disabilities” was officially launched at the conference. The project is supported by Standard Chartered GBS, a company member of the network. The project is being implemented by GBDN-China and Easy Inclusion. It aims to support youth with disabilities by improving their vocational skills and employability so as to help them enter the labour market in an easier way and increase their opportunities of being employed.

A key factor for promotion of disability inclusion among businesses is the involvement of persons with disabilities to demonstrate their abilities in leadership. An open-space discussion was held in the morning of 5 December in which disability inclusion experiences at the workplace were discussed. Employees with disabilities, job seekers with disabilities and employers held an open dialogue in terms of recruitment of persons with disabilities.

GBDN-China is a business-to-business network established by 14 founding members and the ILO on 31 July 2018 in Beijing.