The Philippine Web Accessibility Group requested the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan to allocate funds for the monitoring and evaluation of accessibility compliance of key government websites during a consultation and orientation forum held last November 7, 2012 at UPAA Bahay ng Alumni, Diliman, Quezon City.
PWAG President Jojo Esposa was one of those organizations invited from the Persons With Disabilities group to present their achievements and challenges in performing their objectives. PWD groups also gave overviews about their statistics, situations and possible ODA collaboration.
Among those who presented include the Resources for the Blind, PAVIC, Deaf-Blind Community, Philippine Blind Union and UNESCAP. Government agencies who attended the event were from the Department of Science and Technology, National Computer Center, Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Council on Disability Affairs.
PWAG requests funding assistance for the following:
- Continuous training of web designers and evaluation of all government websites;
- Continuous assistance in development of accessible websites;
- Continuous monitoring of evaluated websites;
- Monitoring of downtime of key government websites
For ODA’s part, Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura, Leader of ODA Needs Research Mission challenged the PWD sector to come up with a joint proposal which can be submitted to them for further study. The approved proposals will then be provided with financial grant and support. ODA is currently targeting on four countries, namely; India, Brazil, Thailand and the Philippines. The ODA group are scheduled to return to the Philippines in January to accept those proposals.
Aside from Kawamura, the Digital Access for Information System (DAISY) was again presented as well as the Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) Screen Reader Open Source Software was demonstrated.
ODA is part of Japan’s International Cooperation under their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They provide financial, technology know-how and expertise to various developing countries. Visit their official website at http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/index.html. You may also download the presentation here.
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