Accessible Books Consortium Calls for Applications for Training and Technical Assistance from Organizations in Developing and Least Developed Countries

October 9, 2019

The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is now inviting capacity building project applications from organizations (or partnerships of organizations), working to produce books in accessible formats for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled.

The “Call for Proposals” is open to organizations worldwide and geographical balance will be considered when evaluating applications.

Interested and eligible organizations should read the Guide to Submitting an ABC Application Form for Training and Technical Assistance PDF, Guide to Submitting an ABC Application Form for Training and Technical Assistance, and complete and send the attached “Application Form” DOC, Application form to Accessible.Books@wipo.int by December 31, 2019. Following this, the ABC Secretariat will evaluate and make a short-list of organizations. Projects generated from the short-list will then be developed further with the ABC Secretariat and selected finalists will sign a contract with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Photo of people seated in a classroom in front of computers being trained in how to produce books in accessible formats
Training session, provided through ABC and its partner with funding from the Government of
Australia, at the Innovation Development Center of the Blind of Mongolia. (Photo: Innovation
Development Center of the Blind 2018)

To be eligible, the organization (and its proposed partners where applicable) should:

  • be located in a developing or least developed country;
  • represent or serve people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled;
  • have some experience in, or a promising basis for, producing accessible format books;
  • demonstrate how the organization will engage with other stakeholders in the country, such as publishers, department(s) of education, the intellectual property or copyright office, to implement the objectives of the Marrakesh Treaty, thereby working towards the sustainability of accessible book production activities in the foreseeable future;
  • have the ability to meet contractual obligations and deadlines.

To date, ABC has helped organizations in 17 developing and least developed countries to produce and deliver over 9,300 educational materials in national languages for primary, secondary and university students who are print disabled.

About the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC)

ABC is a public–private partnership led by WIPO that brings together all of the key players – organizations representing people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled, authors, publishers, collective management organizations, libraries and other authorized entities, as well as standards bodies.

The Accessible Books Consortium was launched five years ago to implement the goals of the WIPO administered Marrakesh Treaty. Through an effective international alliance of relevant state and non-state actors, ABC seeks to increase, and distribute, the number of books worldwide in accessible formats - such as Braille, audio, e-text and large print. In this manner, it makes valuable contributions to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and in particular to SDG No. 4 Quality Education.

For further information, please see the 2019 Report on the Accessible Books Consortium or visit www.AccessibleBooksConsortium.org