LCCI Business Center :

Lahore Businessmen Association forRehabilitation of Disabled (LABARD)

 Patron-in-Chief

President, Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Our Mission :

To facilitate disabled persons earn their own livelihood and work towards resolution of socio-economic issues involving accessibility, accommodation and equity

Our Services to Disabled Persons:

• Free vocational training and skills-enhancement Programmes

• Guidance and counseling

• Arranging employment or self-employment

• Advocacy and Liaison with members of the LCCI and Other Entrepreneurs

Address:

The Chamber of Commerce & Industry Building 11 Shara-e-Aiwan-e-Tijarat, Lahore Ph: 6305538-40, 6365737-42 Fax: 6368854

(Registration No. DDSW-LD,WD,LM(REGD)/00-1186 of 2000, Government of the Punjab)

Quranic Text in Arabic:

By no means shall you attain righteousness

unless you give away freely what is dear to you(Al Quran 3.92)

Under the Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) Ordinance, 1981 issued by the Government of Pakistan, it is mandatory for establishments that not less than one per cent of their total work force shall comprise disabled persons. Employers failing to do so are required to pay to the �Government Rehabilitation for Disabled Persons Fund� each month the sum of money they would have paid as salary or wages to disabled persons had they been employed under the Ordinance. Similar laws exist in other countries and are willingly implemented.   In our environment, the Ordinance is more than welcomed as it is in keeping with our obligations to society at large as laid down in the divine Scriptures.

Who are we?

The first step to help disabled persons and also to coordinate with employers taken by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) was with the founding of the LCCI Cell for Employment of Disabled Persons in 1996.   The Cell has provided training courses to a number of disabled persons and rehabilitated 240 of them by arranging their employment and self-employment.   Based on the experience gained through the Cell operations and in order to expand the scope of this work, an independent NGO under the name of the Lahore Businessmen Association for Rehabilitation of Disabled (LABARD) was registered in December, 2000 with the Directorate of Social Welfare, Government of the Punjab.

Constitutionally, the LCCI President is our ex-officio Patron-in-Chief and its Senior Vice President serves as an ex-officio member of the Governing Body.  The LABARD is run by a Governing Body comprising 15-members who serve it on a voluntary basis and receive no benefits whatsoever.  The General Body elects the members of the Governing Body from among its own members for a two-year term.   The General Body members contribute membership fee to support the cause of the LABARD.The office space and other utilities are provided by the LCCI free of charge.

Our Services to Disabled Persons: We play a dual role in achieving the objectives of the aforementioned government Ordinance.  To disabled persons we provide assessment and evaluation services, training and skill-enhancement courses, counseling, guidance and other relevant services free of charge in order that they become fully capable of performing their job responsibilities.   To employers, we provide disabled persons who are efficient, motivated and trained to meet the required work standards in order that employers can fulfill their obligations under the Ordinance without compromising on the quality and productivity of their work force.  

Our Services to Employers:

We help provide most suitably qualified and trained disabled persons to fill vacancies available with employers.   We also provide monitoring and guidance services for disabled persons to ensure that they get settled in their jobs quickly and become productive members of an employers work force.

Eligibility:

To avail benefits under the Ordinance, every disabled person is invariably required to obtain Disability Certificate from the CENTRES (District Assessment Board, Social Welfare Dept.) appointed by the Government.We are ever pleased to provide assistance in this process.Once the Disability Certificate has been issued, it is requested that every disabled person registers with us depositing a copy each of his/her photograph, Identity Card, Disability Certificate and other testimonials.  Vacancies and understanding of problems of disabled persons.

What we SEEK from?Disabled persons:   Registration with us. Employers :   Vacancies and understanding  of problems of  disabled persons.  You all:   Your understanding, voluntary time, donations & support