The Egyptian government has cooperated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to hold the “Project for Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities through Improvement of Information Accessibility” webinar.
The project has provided the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) technology for accessible digital publishing to promote the right to read for everyone not only people with visual impairment and learning disabilities from March 2019 to December 2021.
It has also raised awareness on challenges encountered by persons with print disabilities during COVID-19 Pandemic, promoted the provision of accessible publications such as DAISY in Egypt, and encouraged the acceleration of Ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty2 and the necessary revision of the copyright law.
The webinar was co-hosted by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the National Library and Archives of Egypt (NLAE), Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), and JICA.
The webinar consisted of keynote lectures of prominent figures and a panel discussion.
Prominent lecturers were: Ahmed Bahi Al-Din, Vice President of the Egyptian General Book Organization, on behalf of Minister of Culture Inas Abdel Dayem; Ashraf Marei, the Secretary General of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities; Nada Thabet, parliamentarian and head of the Village of Hope for Development and Rehabilitation of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities; and Maarten Verboom, the President of the DAISY Consortium.
Good practices in the production and dissemination process of DAISY publications were shared by two Japanese guest speakers who have visited Egypt to raise awareness on the DAISY publications.
