CRPD/C/GC/8 vocational training on the rights of persons with disabilities and funding for reasonable accommodation. Vocational and professional preparation, training and other services should be provided in accessible and inclusive ways, including financial support for participation. F. Promotion of employment opportunities and career advancement (art. 27 (1) (e)) 36. States parties should ensure that persons with disabilities have meaningful opportunities to develop their careers, whatever the form of their employment. 31 Opportunities for development include reskilling and upskilling, training, lifelong learning and mentorship programmes. 37. All workers with disabilities have the right, on an equal basis with others, to be considered for promotion through fair, merit-based and transparent processes. States parties should analyse the direct and indirect barriers to career advancement encountered by persons with disabilities, in particular by women with disabilities. Vocational training referred to under article 27 (1) (d) includes training undertaken by workers with disabilities to advance their careers. Courses must be accessible and workers must be able to seek reasonable accommodation. G. Promotion of opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship and cooperatives (art. 27 (1) (f)) 38. Persons with disabilities have the right to freely choose their work, including whether they wish to be self-employed, start their own business or work in a cooperative. States parties should take targeted measures to protect and support persons with disabilities in the informal economy, to promote and accelerate their transition to the formal economy, and to prevent work in the formal economy from becoming informal. 32 39. The promotion of opportunities for work that is freely chosen requires accessible information on entrepreneurship, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and other forms of business models and economic units, such as cooperatives.33 Non-discriminatory access to business services, markets, infrastructure and technology, occupational health and safety, financial services, mentorship and networking also needs to be considered. States parties should formulate and implement an integrated policy framework that is inclusive of persons with disabilities, ensuring coordination across different levels of government and cooperation between the relevant bodies and authorities, such as tax authorities and social security institutions.34 H. Employment in the public sector (art. 27 (1) (g)) 40. The provisions of other subparagraphs of article 27 apply equally to the public and private sectors. However, where the State party is the employer, it should take a more rigorous approach to inclusion. States parties should introduce objective standards for hiring and promoting persons with disabilities on merit and be committed to increasing the number of employees with disabilities. If necessary, specific measures should be taken to build awareness within the public sector, attract and recruit persons with disabilities and support public sector employees with disabilities, with the aim of reflecting the diversity of the community and benefiting from the lived experiences of persons with disabilities. 41. The Committee has recommended to States parties that, in an effort to increase employment of persons with disabilities in the public sector, they develop and implement affirmative action measures, such as the allocation of targeted funding to promote the 31 32 33 34 8 For an example of where such support was not meaningfully provided, see Gröninger et al. v. Germany (CRPD/C/D/2/2010). See ILO, Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204). Ibid., para. 11 (g). Ibid., para. 12.