Amazon India signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to engage with employable youth with a disability. The MoU which extends until March 2024 will aim to provide skilling and employment opportunities through Job fairs to tens of thousands of PwD across the country.
Dr. Virendra Kumar, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment said, “This initiative will empower and create a brighter future for People with Disabilities. The private sector’s empathy and participation will assist in providing more job and entrepreneurship opportunities. The social and financial empowerment of PWDs is extremely important in realising the prime minister’s vision for a self-reliant nation. I welcome Amazon India’s initiative towards building a more inclusive workforce.”
Akhil Saxena, Vice President, Customer Fulfilment – APAC, MENA, LATAM and WW Customer Service, Amazon, said, “With this project, we aim to focus on skilling and livelihood-oriented empowerment for PwDs, over a period of 12 to 24 months. This complements our existing programs to provide direct employment opportunities to under-represented cohorts.”
Additionally, the company also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sarthak Educational Trust (SET) for a special grant of 25 million INR, which is directed towards reducing the skill gap in employable young PwDs through a state-of-the-art Global Resource Center (GRC). The grant will be used to create a centre of excellence for employment and vocational training within Sarthak Global Resource Centre to support its effort to mainstream disability.
Amazon runs various programs for diverse underrepresented cohorts encompassing not just PwDs but also women, military veterans and people from the LGBTQIA+ community. The company has pioneered the ‘Silent Delivery Station’ through the Delivery Service Partner program.
