Director of EO, Vukica Jelic, said that the Steering Board approved a grant from the Fund for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, reports Mina-business.
“This year, the EO will give about three million euros for persons with disabilities”, said Jelic at a press conference, explaining that the grant is intended for all citizens and businesses who have ideas for quality employment of people with disabilities, or for increasing their employability.
“We published the grant on Tuesday in the amount of two million, and the public call will last 20 days, whereby applicants may receive a grant from three thousand euros to 50 thousand euros”, said Jelic.
Applicants will, immediately after signing the contract, get 50 percent of the funds. Another 40 percent will be given after evidence that they properly used the first half of their grant, followed by the remaining 10 percent of the funds for finishing their project.
“The history of the previous grant is that 63 applicants applied, of which we have selected 19 solid projects, which included 277 persons. This grant will be finished over the next few days, after which we will know exactly what the results are”, said Jelic.
The Employment Office currently records 2.3 thousand persons with disabilities, of which 1.1 thousand are invalids of the second and third category, while about 600 persons finished special schools and about 600 received this status from the Commission for professional rehabilitation.
Analysis of the Association of Youth with Disabilities shows that more than 40 percent of employers said they have not even heard of government’s subsidies for employment of people with disabilities.
Head of the Fund for Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities, Slavica Radusinović, said that the law and the EO have a wide array of stimulating measures for employers who hire persons with disabilities.
“There are four types of subsidies, including allocation of grants for adapting the workplace and working conditions for employment of persons with disabilities, participation in the financing of personal expenses of helpers in their work, as well as favorable loans for the purchase of machinery, tools and equipment”, explained Radusinović.
The right to wage subsidy is currently being exercised by 100 employers for 142 people, where earnings depend on the percentage of disability of the person hired.
