On Friday 20^th December, DNetwork celebrated its 6th birthday at the Annika Linden Centre with a group discussion that explored what the organization can do in the future to make an even greater contribution towards people with disabilities. Around 20 participants attended the event, including representatives of the Bali Deaf Community (BDC), the Movement for Indonesian Deaf Welfare (Gerkatin), and the Indonesian Blind Association (Pertuni).
 
The results of the discussion had a major impact on DNetwork’s start to 2020. DNetwork has prepared several new programs related to the disability workforce sector, including a volunteer program that aims to open more opportunities for the general public who want to help out with DNetwork’s programs in various cities. Volunteers can help DNetwork hold educational events while also facilitating the connection between DNetwork and companies.

DNetwork and Accor Hotels Bali-Lombok signed a partnership agreement at the end of  November. This partnership is expected to open more employment opportunities for people with disabilities (PwD). However, DNetwork and Accor do not focus only on work placement. This collaboration will also prioritize the pre-training program for PwD to prepare them to enter the professional work environment. In the pre-training program, Accor and DNetwork aim to provide PwD with a variety of essential skills in the hospitality industry, such as English and computing skills.

"Through this program, we continue to support employment opportunities in our hotels and help maintain the spirit of diversity and inclusion in all our properties," said Sylvain Pasdeloup — General Manager of Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort who also serves as Area Manager of Accor Bali- Lombok — to the journalists who attended the signing of the partnership agreement event at Amarterra Villas Nusa Dua Bali.

Last September, the DNetwork team visited Surabaya for four days to attend a series of events. On Monday 9^th September 2019, DNetwork held its first Surabaya Jobseekers Gathering, in collaboration with Surabaya State University’s Disability Study and Service Centre. The event was a great success, with more than 50 jobseekers attending. During the Jobseekers Gathering, which focused on “Professionalism in the Workplace”,  two speakers from Alfamidi and Jawa Pos shared their views and experience.
On the second and third day, the DNetwork team participated in a Job Fair, which was organized by the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration East Java Province. Jobseekers with a disability came from across East Java to visit DNetwork’s booth to get information related to job vacancies for people with disabilities. DNetwork also managed to spread the word about workplace inclusivity to many of the companies who participated in the Job Fair.
On the last day, the DNetwork team set up a few meetings with potential collaborators; from government officials and business associations to education institutes. DNetwork also paid a visit to Reika, one of DNetwork’s Surabaya users who now works as a cashier at Alfamidi. What a fruitful visit this was!

DNetwork has successfully held its fourth Jobseekers Gathering event in Bali and the first one in Jakarta. Jobseekers Gathering is one of DNetwork's regular events that aims to gather jobseekers with disabilities and empower them with new skills and/or knowledge that would help them to kick-start their professional careers.
 
The event in Bali was held on Thursday, August 8^th 2019 at the Annika Linden Centre. During this event, three speakers from Alfamart, Movenpick Hotel, and Berlin Gastro Kitchen shared their views on professionalism and their experience working with employees with disabilities. Meanwhile, the event in Jakarta was held on Tuesday, September 3^rd 2019 at a craft workshop run by Precious One. Precious One, which provides a marketplace for products created by people with disabilities, partnered with DNetwork to run this event. Unlike the event in Bali, this one focused on making the participants aware that 'working' doesn't always mean being employed in an office, but can also mean becoming an entrepreneur from home. In addition to providing some insight into entrepreneurship, the participants also received a free workshop on how to make a customized pouch.