Introducing the use of braille printers in ODA

The Global Festa JAPAN 2021, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, JICA, and others, was held on October 9th and 10th at the Tokyo Forum in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, where Nippon Telesoft representative Kaneko participated in the symposium “Overseas expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises and ODA” and reported on examples of the use of braille printers. This year, the 30th anniversary of the festival, the venue also had exhibition booths from international NGOs, NPOs, and countries such as the Kyrgyz Republic, and guides in national costumes gave a tour, making it an international event. Our company also demonstrated a braille printer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs booth, and provided those who wanted one with their own name printed in braille. They were impressed by the braille names they had never seen before.

At the symposium, we introduced a case study of an “ICT classroom” for visually impaired people implemented by the Vietnam Blind Association, using video footage, and reported that it had achieved results in the education and employment of people with disabilities, fulfilling the role of ODA in supporting developing countries.

On December 21, the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam held a grassroots ODA presentation ceremony and donated braille printers and displays to the Vietnam Association of the Blind and other organizations. The braille printers are Nippon Telesoft’s “DOD BASIC ADF,” which is quiet and can print quickly, and will print and deliver a wide variety of information to visually impaired people in Vietnam. The braille displays are “Seika Mini,” which can record in braille and are expected to be effective in learning and other areas.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Yamada said that the total amount of the seven grants for which grant contracts were signed this time is US$1,147,533. Specifically, the projects will cover a wide range of areas, including (1) a project to remove unexploded ordnance in Quang Binh Province, which continues to suffer from the threat of unexploded ordnance even today, 45 years after the Vietnam War, (2) a project to provide portable X-ray equipment to efficiently screen for tuberculosis in remote areas, (3) provision of Braille equipment for the visually impaired, (4) construction of kindergarten and primary school buildings, (5) development of facilities to ensure sanitary water for daily use, and (6) construction of village roads. The portable X-ray equipment and Braille equipment provided this time will utilize Japanese technology, and will contribute to Vietnam’s development in terms of technology as well.

Nippon Telesoft conducted training on how to use braille printers and repair techniques at the Sri Lankan Association for the Blind from November 1st to 3rd. The braille printers were donated through an ODA project by the Japanese government, and will be used to create and distribute various braille printed materials to blind people in Sri Lanka. By acquiring repair training for braille equipment through this training, they will be able to use the equipment stably.