The World Bank, Tunisian Government and partners present a

- Global Dialogue on ICT and Disability -

Empowering People with Disabilities for the Information Age:
A Case Study of an e-Disabled Project in Tunisia

(a component of ICT Sector Development project)

Sep. 10, 2008, 9:00-11:30 a.m. ET

Please note that this event will be repeated in French on Sep. 15 for Francophone countries in Africa (Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cote D'Ivoire). Please let us know if you would like to participate.

You can join us at:

GDLN Classroom (MC-C2-137), 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. ;

or at GDLN Centers in Tanzania, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, at WB COUNTRY OFFICE in Rwanda

and via LIVE WEBCASTThe webcast will be available at: http://www.worldbank.org/edevelopment/live

Chair

Carlo Maria Rossotto, MNA Regional Coordinator, GICT, The World Bank (in Tunis)

Samia Melhem, Chair, e-Development Thematic Group, World Bank (in Washington DC) - co-chair

Opening Remarks

Charlotte Vuyiswa McClain-Nhlapo, Regional Coordinator for Africa, Disability and Development, World Bank

Deepak Bhatia, e-Government Applications Practice Leader, GICT, World Bank

Keynote Speaker:

Tarek Ben Youssef, National Director, Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad, Tunisia

Discussants:

Marco Nicoli, Senior Knowledge Officer, Disability and Development, HDNSP

Chitranganie Mubarak, Programme Head, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka

Moderator

Oleg Petrov, Coordinator, e-Development Thematic Group, Global ICT Department, World Bank

Mikhail Bunchuk, Webcast Moderator

Program Description

World Bank's Global ICT Department, The Republic of Tunisia's Ministry of Social Affairs, Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad

(Ministère des Affaires Sociales De la Solidarité et des Tunisiens à l’Etranger) and e-Development Thematic Group are pleased to invite you to join a Global Dialogue GDLN workshop to share experiences of active projects and good practices in the use of information and communicatio technology for empowering disabled populations.

This workshop will highlight some key results, good practices and lessons learned from Tunisian "e-Disabled: Social Inclusion through ICT" project as well as discuss experiences from other parts of the world (mostly in Africa) and implications for World Bank operations and clients.

The Tunisian e-Disabled project (about $2 million) is a key component of WB-funded ICT Sector Development Project ($13 million). This component funded computer laboratories in schools for disabled children, providing them with multilingual Arabic/French/Sign language software reinforcing school curriculum. Out of a target population of 10,000 disabled students, already 3000 have regular access and usage of the computer laboratories and software. By 2009, the full disabled school children population will be covered. The project also funded 24 centers throughout Tunisia offering Internet access to the disabled population, including access to government services. Each center is equipped with hardware and software to allow citizens with disabilities (physical, intellectual or auditive) to access content online, such as Braille keyboards, Braille printers, touch-screens, software to magnify Internet browsing, software to convert text into voice, and sign language translation. In 2007, the first group of these centers served over 500 disabled Tunisians in their Internet research and interactions with government services.

The workshop will include discussion among participating countries on the following issues:

1. The current status of using ICT to empower disabled persons in your country: what has been done so far, what are the challenges and key issues? Is there an official policy in this regard?

2. What are the 3 priority actions that are needed to dramatically improve the situation in your country?

3. What kind of support do you require to take this agenda forward?

Relevant Links

Global Alliance for ICT and Development - Challenges related to disabilities

UN Enable - International Day for Persons with Disabilities

UN Enable - Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

W3C Priority One guidelines

Fairfax County Medical and Social Needs Program for Emergency Management

To join our mailing list, please write to edevelopment@worldbank.org