The three-year program is aimed at young people with disabilities seeking a career in the development sector, with an emphasis on disability rights and inclusion.
The National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) has announced a three-year comprehensive undergraduate scholarship program for disabled youth interested in disability rights and inclusion and pursuing careers in the development sector.
The launch of the NCPEDP-Javed Abidi Fellowship on Disability in collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation marked the silver anniversary of the NCPEDP, India’s leading group of people with disabilities.
The vision of Javed Abidi, a former director of the NCPEDP, was to involve youth in the disability discourse.
“The grant was launched on June 11th and coincided with the birthday of the late Abidi, one of the pioneers of the disability rights movement in India,” said the centre’s executive director, Arman Ali.
According to the NCPEDP, there are almost 25 million people with disabilities in India between the ages of 15 and 25 who are looking for equal participation and inclusion in society and development discourse.
“The struggle for food, access to basic health care, education and livelihoods triggered by a pandemic has pushed back the disability rights movement and the inclusion of people with disabilities by two decades. The fellows will help document such battle stories and best practices from across the country to aid better reconstruction, ”Ali said.
People with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 28 are eligible for the scholarship to work on a specific topic or problem during the three-year period. The grant from September 2021 includes a monthly grant of up to 25,000.
The scholarship aims to promote social entrepreneurship among scholarship holders and to assist them in contributing in a pluralistic manner to an evidence-based collection of advocacy efforts, experiences and impacts on the cause of disability.
“There is an urgent need for disability-related data and research, not only for informed and effective lobbying campaigns from the disability sector, but also for policy makers to make informed decisions to implement rights-based programs and policies that enable people with disabilities India”, said the chairman of the NCPEDP, Som Mittal.
The final deadline for applying for the scholarship through the website www.ncpedp.org or by emailing [email protected] is August 11th.
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