VÉG KATALIN | Fahidi Éva Díj

VÉG KATALIN (BUDAPEST)

Head of the Salva Vita Foundation

Her work is driven by the belief that people with disabilities or other difficulties should have the same opportunities to work and live independently as anyone else. Her perseverance is particularly important at the head of an organization that is constantly developing its services even in a persistently difficult funding environment. For more than two decades, she has led the Salva Vita Foundation, which supports people with disabilities from job search to workplace integration, and also helps companies create inclusive employment. More than two thousand people have found work with the organization. The activity goes beyond mediation: it also affects the perspective of workplace communities and strengthens the natural, value-creating presence of employees with disabilities. The foundation's two-week Group Volunteer Program connects Hungarian and foreign young people with special and non-special needs. The Youth House offers free development, self-awareness and work preparation sessions for young people aged 18–30. The EmployAble program consists of group training, company internships, and individual mentoring to help young people who need additional support find permanent employment in the open labor market.

Under her leadership, the foundation responded to declining funding with new forms of income, international applications, corporate training, audits and cooperation programs; it now generates a significant part of its operating costs from its own activities. In addition to helping individuals find employment, her work also shapes the attitudes of employers and the inclusiveness of workplace communities. She considers employment to be a fundamental condition for independent living, human dignity and social participation.

For me, the most important thing in my job is – the candidate wrote

I have been working with people with special needs (disabilities) for over 30 years, influenced by a youthful experience and encounter - which took my entire life in a completely different direction than I had set out for.

The most important thing in my work is that I can support those who are usually on the margins of society, who are given significantly fewer opportunities and whose voices are not strong enough to stand up for themselves. I find it unacceptable that there are those among us who, through no fault of their own, start at a huge disadvantage and the world passes them by without a word. Every human being, every soul, is born with the same dignity, and it is painful to see that there are those whom the world does not treat with dignity at all. I want to help their lives.

At the Salva Vita Foundation, we support them in discovering their own value, their strengths, and in believing that they are also important members of society. We strengthen their self-awareness and self-confidence, so that they dare to make decisions and not rely on others when it comes to their own lives. They receive practical help in finding work and living independently. At the same time, we also shape the outlook of society so that there are as many inclusive communities as possible, where people with special needs are valued members and where they can feel safe.

I am convinced that stopping exclusion requires many, many personal meetings, conversations, and joint activities, and we provide this opportunity.