Empowering People with Disabilities for the Information Age

A Case Study of the e-Disabled Project in Tunisia

10-15 Sep 08 | Washington D.C., United States

Overview Agenda Speaker Bios Presentations

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.

How to participate

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

(2) GDLN Centers in Tanzania, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, at WB COUNTRY OFFICE in Rwanda

(3) LIVE WEBCAST - The webcast will be available at: http://www.worldbank.org/edevelopment/live

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.

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)

OPENING REMARKS

Charlotte Vuyiswa McClain-Nhlapo, Regional Coordinator for Africa, Disability and Development, World BankDeepak 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, HDNSPChitranganie Mubarak, Programme Head, ICT Agency of Sri Lanka

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?

Mr. Tarek Ben Youssef is the National Director of the Poverty Portfolio at Tunisia's Ministry of Solidarity and Tunisians Abroad, as well as the Project Manager for Tunisia's e-Disabled Project supported by the World Bank . He is an expert in social statistics (labor, poverty, persons with special needs) and monitoring of socio-economic development projects. Particular areas of interest include the fight against poverty and exclusion, empowerment of handicaped persons, adult education, research and statistical analysis. He holds a doctorate in Statistics from the University of Paris 6.

All workshop materials will be available at: http://go.worldbank.org/U7VSO2OR40

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