Podcast: How the International Committee of the Red Cross is using sport to change attitudes towards disability in conflict zones

Continuing our look at disability and employment, Suzy Christopher, Co-Founder, Untapped - our Knowledge Partner for Accelerate - spoke to Jess Markt & Pat Glennon, from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who are delivering their physical rehabilitation and workforce inclusion programme using sport to change attitudes towards disabled people in conflict and war zones.

“In many countries that we work in there’s a tradition: if you’re disabled, you stay home and your family takes care of you. It’s a belief and it’s the way people think. So how do you change behaviour to overcome a tradition without causing or creating too many ripples?”

 

In this episode of Untapped Voices, Suzy Christopher, Co-Founder of our partner, Untapped, was in conversation with Jess Markt and Pat Glennon from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who are delivering their physical rehabilitation and workforce inclusion programme through sport in conflict and war zones.

 

Jess is the Disability, Sport & Inclusion Advisor, working with the headquarters team based in Geneva, Switzerland, but is physically based in Boulder, Colorado. Pat works for Jess as a Disability Inclusion Advisor working on the ICRC’s Career Development Programme.

 

“Our goal is to increase knowledge, to break down barriers, and to facilitate opportunities to enable persons with disabilities to have an enhanced opportunity to achieve economic security.”

 

In this podcast, they discuss how their programme has been bringing about real change in conflict and war zones, changing mindsets and attitudes towards people with disabilities; how societal integration allows people with disabilities to achieve their full potential; and how small in-country organisations can learn from bigger, global brands about adopting an inclusive approach to employment.

 

“To help persons with disabilities achieve employment is something that we say on a regular basis has to be inclusive, you cannot be exclusive.”

 

The topics covered in this episode included:

● The programmes they run
● Impact and real change they’ve seen
● From prosthetics to employment
● Building an ecosystem approach
● The role of government in the programmes
● Creating a sustainable programme for the future.

 

 

sport in conflict zones

Jess Markt, Disability, Sport & Inclusion Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross

 

 

Listen to Suzy Christopher’s full podcasT interview with Jess Markt & Pat Glennon, here.

 

 

sport in conflict zones

Pat Glennon, Disability Inclusion Advisor, Career Development Programme, International Committee of the Red Cross

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