ICT 4 Special Needs

Table of content  Brief Introduction to Resala, the focal point for ICTARB in Egypt  ICTARB: Making ICTs work for Persons Living with Disabilities  IBSAR  Brief Note on Active Engagement  Conclusions

RESALA‘s major projects  Free computer courses  ICDL (Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access)  Graphics Design (Photoshop)  Web Design (HTML + CSS, Dreamweaver)  Web Development (PHP + MySQL, ASP.NET)  Programming (C, C++, Java, C#)  Network Administration (MCSE)  Illiteracy courses  Free private lessons for school students  Language courses in french and english  Hosting and bringing up of orphaned children  Collecting and distributing used clothes to the poor  Distributing food for the poor  A regular monthly blood donation campaign  Direct assistance to poor families  Free medical checkups

Information and Communication Technologies in the Arab Region for the Blind (ICTARB)  Services for the blind, the deaf and children of special needs  Translating books into braille  Braille course  Errands ( driving a blind person to some place, collecting food from another place)  Together with volunteers help in manufacturing of handicrafts  Giza Branch  3570 registered volunteers (Giza district)  517 active volunteeers in October 2007  26 audio books and expanding  293 pamphlets and 163 books in braille script  Library continuously expanding

ICTARB (2) ICTARB is a regional project currently operating in Egypt and Syria that seeks to utilize ICTs as a catalyst in the delivery of educational services to the visually impaired. Based upon the success of the pilot programme, the project is currently being expanded to Yemen, Morocco and Tunisia.

ICTARB (3)  RESALA is the focal point of the ICTARB initiative in Egypt, together with Vodafone, MCIT, ICTDAR/UNDP and Sakhr software  4 locations (Cairo, Heliopolis, Alexandria, Fayoum) fully equipped according to the needs of virtually impaired  Provision of over 40 PCs and 8 Braille printers  Training of trainers is provided for solutions such as Sakhr‘s IBSAR SW  RESALAs volunteer trainers from the Giza branch are implementing other training courses as they become available  160 visually impaired regularly visit the Giza (Faysal) branch

ICTARB (4) The objectives of ICTARB are to provide the visually-impaired with tools that will enable them to be independent and self-reliant, and to ultimately achieve a better quality of life than that which is currently available to them. These objectives will be achieved through:

ICTARB (5) * Illiteracy reduction through training on basic skills in the use of ICT and establishment of a Braille/Audio library that would allow access to knowledge on various topics. * Poverty reduction through improved job opportunities as a result of newly developed skills. * Social integration through building of self esteem and self reliance.

ICTARB (7) The project covers the following activities: 1) Set up of the three centers (purchasing equipments, hardware and software for visually impaired) 2)TOT ( Training of Trainers):The training build the skills and resources among trainers to meet the needs of visually impaired individuals in integrating information and communication technology to help better accomplish their development objectives. 3) Set up an Audio/Braille Library:The project set up an Audio and Braille library in Giza center of excellence, and all the Braille and audio materials will be available for other centers to benefit from. This will help visually impaired people to access to the available audio CDs, tapes and Braille books. The audio/ Braille Library on the intranet will consist of various materials that meet the common interests of the visually impaired individuals: Science, History, Culture, Art, Academic books, and other relevant materials

ICTARB (7) Relevance to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): –Reducing poverty and illiteracy are part of the MDGs set for the 166 UN member states to achieve by ICTARB contributes to these goals by empowering the visually impaired through access to knowledge and training, and consequently providing them with an opportunity for to get employed. ICTARB also contributes to goals related to youth and women, since these two segments are also served.

IBSAR 6.0 (engl.: vision)  IBSAR (Vision in English) is an integrated solution for visually impaired, allowing them to effectively utilize computers  Based on Sakhr Arabic/English Text to Speech (TTS) and Sakhr Optical Character Recognition (OCR) engines  Enables blind/visually impaired users to read printed books and documents as well as electronic files on their own (without any help)  Enables them to write texts in both Arabic and English, in addition to saving and printing these texts in Braille  This integrated solution enables the blind user to access the Internet and read Arabic and English Web sites  Moreover, Ibsar allows users to send, receive, write, read, and manage messages

IBSAR (2)  IBSAR system benefits:  Allows the users to perform self-training  Maintains the users independence and privacy  Provides assistance for blind and visually impaired users in terms of education, culture, and career development  Supports any standard computer so it can be used at home, university, office as it runs on any Windows operating system

Active Engagement Volunteers actively work with the visually impaired in basic education, tutoring, Braille instruction and other fields to meet an individual’s needs. The ICTARB project is in part based in mobilizing the local population to serve those in need, thusly promoting volunteerism.

Conclusions ICTARB’s activities in Egypt have had a demonstrable impact and have proven to be a model for scaling up the project’s activities across the Arab Region. There is stated demand for serving the needs of persons living with disabilities utilizing ICTs. Harnessing ICTs for the disabled has proven to be a successful mode for future interventions. There is a proven spirit of volunteerism that has been effectively harnessed in this project to serve the visually impaired.

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