The Sightsavers Dolphin Pen needs your vote for the Champions of Quality Education in Africa Award
7th Aug, 2009
Sightsavers International has been shortlisted for the Champions of Quality Education in Africa Award - a global competition that celebrates innovative ideas that are improving education in Africa. This award (sponsored by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation) will be decided by public vote, so we are asking you to vote for Sightsavers International.
90% of children with disabilities in developing countries do not go to school. This includes 4.4 million blind and visually impaired children who are sadly missing out on an education, often due to a lack of learning materials and appropriate support.
Sightsavers International, in partnership with Dolphin Computer Access ltd and the World Blind Union, has developed the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen, a lightweight pen drive with a screen magnifier and screen reader. This cost effective technology gives visually impaired students access to computers, and therefore educational materials, textbooks and information via the internet. It also gives them the same opportunity to develop their IT skills and employment prospects as sighted learners. This technology is being piloted in one of Sightsavers inclusive education programmes in Kenya and will provide a model that can be replicated across Africa.
By supporting this project, you will help raise awareness of the challenges that face blind and visually impaired children in developing countries and help Sightsavers to improve learning opportunities for blind and visually impaired children through assistive technology across the continent.
Click here or visit http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/educationafrica to vote for the Sightsavers project, "Pioneering Assistive Technology: equal opportunities in education for visually impaired learners", by the 19th August to help us to improve the opportunities of blind and visually impaired children in Kenya and across Africa.
This should only take a couple of minutes of your time. Please note you will need to register on the Changemakers website and vote for three projects in order for your vote to count.
For more information, please visit www.sightsavers.org/changemakers or contact Victoria Martin at vmartin@sightsavers.org or +44 (0)1444 446781.
How is the Sightsavers Dolphin Pen making a difference in Kenya?
