Nairobi — As the world Tuesday marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Kenyan banks and financial institutions are being urged to employ more people living with disabilities and invest in programs that cater to their financial needs and services.
Kenyan banks have improved their accessibility to people living with disabilities by redesigning their entrances for easy access and creating special desks to serve them better, according to the Kenya Bankers Association.
Despite the progress made, still more is needed to create financial inclusion for such people in employment.
The association's report says only 1% of disabled people is employed in the banking sector. The acting head of the Kenya Bankers Association, Raymond Molenje, called for improved employment opportunities for them in the coming years.
"It's a challenge that we need to intentionally work on this and be able to see within the next year, two years we can move that to two, three percent," Molenje said. "For the government, there is a target for the government workforce; every institution ought to be at five percent, so that is government law, but as a private sector, we need to be even far ahead of the government."
Almost 1 million Kenyans live with some form of disability, according to the country's 2019 census.
Seven banks in Kenya participated in a four-month-long project to understand the challenges faced by people with disabilities in accessing financial services in the country.
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Equity Bank is one of the companies participating in the project. The bank's adviser on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Iram Bahawal, said some digital services do not tend to the needs of disabled people.
"Some of these apps are not friendly to those with dyslexia; they are not friendly with those with epilepsy. They are not friendly to those with low vision," Bahawal said. "Looking at all this, some of these things are quick skills - we need to tweak some of these backend codes, and it becomes accessible."
Julius Mbura, advocacy officer from inAble, an organization that empowers people with disabilities, said such employment can improve the service delivery of banks to disabled people.
"Now that they are embracing disability inclusion and bringing people with disabilities on board as their workforce, they should endeavor to make sure that their internal assets for platforms, communications and their service delivery should be fluid and accommodative of persons with disabilities; because once you employ a person with disabilities, reasonable accommodation is one of the areas we should look at and to ensure that there is [a] conducive working environment for persons with disabilities," Mbura said.
The banking association and other stakeholders in the financial sector, moving forward, said they want to focus on mobile applications, online banking, bank statements, ATMs, social media, and employment software applications.
The banking association will review the recommendations received from the four-month projects in the coming months.
