Global Disability Rights Library eGranary Digital support available for 60 demonstration sites in developing countries

The Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) project is a global effort to enable disability rights advocates to transform society.  The GDRL team is working to build a large collection of digital knowledge on disability rights and related topics.

The GDRL is a joint initiative of the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) and the University of Iowa’s WiderNet Project with funding support from the United States Agency for International development (USAID).

The goal of the Global Disability Rights Library (GDRL) is to improve the lives of persons with disabilities in developing countries by using off-line digital libraries to deliver information and educational materials to disabled people’s organizations (DPOs), decision makers, individual advocates, health care institutions, and other organizations and agencies that support the disability civil rights movement and that lack adequate Internet access.

The project funds the deployment of the GDRL to 60 demonstration sites in developing countries by the end of 2012.

To be considered as a deployment site, the applicants must complete the on-line application form to provide general information about their organization and must provide at least one professional reference.

The GDRL team will review all online applications and will contact eligible organizations for more details to further measure their capacity to become a deployment site. Sites chosen for further screening will usually be contacted via email or phone.

It is anticipated that the number of applicants will far exceed 60 funded deployment sites. This process will be competitive and it cannot be guaranteed that everyone applying to become a deployment site will be chosen.

Selection Criteria

A deployment site must meet all of these Organizational Criteria:

-      Organizational capacity to host GDRL content and to share this content with others;

-      Demonstrated commitment to promoting and/or facilitating disability rights;

-      Strong commitment to sharing GDRL content with a broad cross-section of society, especially including people with disabilities. This necessarily requires a commitment to ensuring maximum feasible accessibility for people with a wide range of physical, sensory, and mental disabilities;

-      Clear commitment to gender equality in training and service programs;

-      Willingness to provide evaluative feedback and usage reports;

-      Creativity, resourcefulness, and innovation in addressing both anticipated and unanticipated challenges, and

-      Ability to gain endorsement from the local USAID mission to participate in this program.

Technical Criteria:

A deployment site must meet this Technical Criteria:

-      Cannot easily obtain digital information via the Web because…

-      Have no Internet access, OR

-      Internet access is so slow as to make web browsing difficult or impossible, OR

-      Internet access is so expensive that offering web browsing to an expanded clientele is unaffordable, OR

-      Internet access is available only at limited or unreliable intervals.

Deadline for submitting the applications is Sept 1, 2011

For further information and details, please visit this link.