CII launches the India Business Disability Network, a unique platform for companies to enable inclusion

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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) launched the India Business Disability Network (IBDN) at the National Conference on ‘Mainstreaming Inclusivity & Accessibility – Enabling Industry’ in Delhi on 21 January 2019.

The IBDN is a National Business and Disability Network that promotes and facilitates an inclusive, accessible and a barrier-free workplace within the corporate sector, and set up in joint partnership with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Employers’ Federation of India (EFI). IBDN is a one stop solution to share learnings and best practices, create context-based solutions, facilitate partnerships, facilitate inclusion, and create & dissemination knowledge. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Accenture are Founding Members of the network.
IBDN will bring together industry think tanks, policymakers, disability community representatives and organizations for knowledge creation and dissemination, advocacy and dialogue, as well as facilitation of partnerships and services. The launch of IBDN was supported by the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ).

The National Conference was held with the objective of creating a learning platform for organizations to engage and include persons with disabilities within their ecosystems; understanding the skilling requirements, gaps and technology solutions to bring in inclusion; and proposing policy recommendations on mainstreaming inclusion. The discussions were focused on effectively addressing barriers, sharing experiences, good practices and accessibility and employability solutions for inclusion of persons with disabilities at the workplace.

Some of the good practices towards driving the inclusion agenda were shared by senior industry leaders from ANZ Banking Group, Allegis, RBS, Vindhya E Infotech, Barrier Break, TCS, PwC, IBM, Lemon Tree Hotels, Accenture, GIZ, Minda Group and Future Retail. The event also saw participation of civil society leaders from Enable India, Barrier Break, Sasakawa India Leprosy Foundation (S-ILF), V-shesh, Skill Council for Persons with Disability (SCPwD).