China Radio Information Project for the Blind

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Summary

A self-powered radio project makes information and education accessible to visually impaired people in China. Isolated listeners can receive advice, and connect with each other and their communities. progress reportread updates from the field

How Donors Like You Helped

Thanks to donors like you, a total of $1,085 was raised for this project.

Received $1,085 from 11 donations from people like:

ozhango
Wheels86
suraj
(Anon.)

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More Information About this Project

Project Needs and Beneficiaries

Among China’s rural millions, the visually impaired struggle acutely with economic deprivation and social exclusion. China has the world’s largest disabled population. Discrimination exacerbates poor access to education, services and employment. 10 million blind people are further marginalized by lack of visual access. Unreliable electric supplies and high replacement costs of batteries impede radio access. Self-powered radio opens doors to information, empowerment and community connection.

Activities

BBC's world-renowned "In Touch" series will broadcast from October 2006 in Beijing through Beijing Peoples’ Radio. Freeplay’s self-powered Lifeline radios will be distributed to extend program access to the rural visually impaired.

Funding Information

Total Funding Received to Date: $1,085

Funding Information

This project is now in implementation and no longer available for funding. Received funds will be used to accomplish concrete objectives as indicated in the project's "Activities" section. Updates will be posted under the "Progress Report" tab as they become available.

Donors' contributions and pledges to this project totaled $1,085.  The original project funding goal was $357,500.

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a Microsoft Word file (projdoc.doc).

Resources

Why this Project is Important

Potential Long Term Impact

The "In Touch for China" radio pilot attracted interest from broadcasters across China. Extending coverage and program access can help acutely marginalized rural blind people toward self-empowerment and connection with society.

Project Message

Freeplay self-powered radios are urgently needed to extend the reach of our successful China radio pilot to people in rural areas. They need the program the most but are least able to access it.
- Stephen Hallett, China Country Director BBC World Service Trust

Who is Running This Project

Contact

Midi Berry,
Senior Development Consultant
Freeplay Foundation USA
56-58 Conduit Street
London, W1S 2YZ
United Kingdom
+1 310 843 9332
Email:

Project Sponsor

Freeplay Foundation

Organization

Freeplay Foundation
71 Gloucester Place
London, United Kingdom W1U 8JW
United Kingdom
+ 44 (0) 207 935 53
http://www.freeplayfoundation.org

Learn more about Freeplay Foundation and the project team.


Freeplay Foundation's Funded Projects on GlobalGiving

Radios to Support Tsunami Survivors in Indonesia
Radios to Support Tsunami Survivors in Indonesia 		Radio Education for Out-of-School Zambian Children
Radio Education for Out-of-School Zambian Children 		Radio education for South African AIDs orphans
Radio education for South African AIDs orphans 		Radios to Educate Child Laborers in Tanzania
Radios to Educate Child Laborers in Tanzania
Radios for Grassroots Democracy Project in Kenya
Radios for Grassroots Democracy Project in Kenya 		Market Access via Radio for Rwandan Coffee Farmers
Market Access via Radio for Rwandan Coffee Farmers

Where this Project is Located

Country

This project is located in China and can also be found under Human Rights.

For more information about China, read the Human Development Report on China or the Wikipedia entry for China.

When this Project was Updated

Last Updated

This project was last updated on January 24, 2008.

Date Added to GlobalGiving

This project was added to the GlobalGiving project catalog on September 11, 2005.

Latest Update from the Field

News Release - Tom Hanks hosts eBay Charity Auction

By Michelle Riley - Director of External Affairs, January 24, 2008 02:23 PM

New York, January 21, 2008…. The Freeplay Foundation announced today that two-time Academy Award® winner Tom Hanks will participate in a charity auction hosted on eBay Giving Works Jan 22-Feb 1 to support the Freeplay Foundation.

Tom Hanks, the Freeplay Foundation’s U.S. Ambassador, will autograph 10 self-powered Freeplay Lifeline radios for the charity auction on eBay Giving Works, eBay’s dedicated program for charity listings. Each high bidder also will receive a personal letter and a signed photo from Mr. Hanks.

“The Lifeline radio can change the world – one person, one house, one village at a time,” said Mr. Hanks. “The beauty of the Freeplay Foundation is the radio itself and the immediacy of its mission: to put radios in the hands of people who need them. Lifeline radios can make a positive impact from the moment they are turned on in one of the villages.”

People can go to www.ebay.com or can click on www.shopvictoriously.com to place their bids and to watch a special video from Tom Hanks.

Lifeline radios are not sold commercially; they are the first radios ever produced specifically for use in humanitarian projects. Radio is the primary means of mass communication in developing countries, but often, transistor radio batteries cost too much for people to buy on an ongoing basis and electricity is non-existent. The Freeplay Foundation provides radio access to the poorest people in the world via the wind-up and solar-powered radios, which do not require batteries or electricity.

Working mainly in Africa, the Freeplay Foundation enables hundreds of thousands of children to learn English, math, science and life skills through radio distance-learning programs. Coffee farmers learn new planting techniques using Lifeline radios, and people throughout Africa learn how to prevent HIV/AIDS while listening to their Lifelines. Nomadic tribes listen to Lifeline radios as they caravan, and orphaned children -- living completely on their own – can grasp a “lifeline” to the outside world when listening.

“The first time I held a Lifeline, I felt like I was carrying all the promise of the modern world in my hand,” remembers Tom Hanks. “Music can come out of the sky without batteries being tossed into landfills. Information can be sent and received, and voices of freedom can be heard. All by winding up this little box.”

The Freeplay Foundation is a fund-seeking organization with 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status in the U.S., is a registered charity in the UK, and has Section 21 non-profit status in South Africa.

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Media contacts:
East Coast: Alexandrea Ravenelle, Global Fluency
(646) 652-5216 aravenelle@globalfluency.com
West Coast: Brielle Schaeffer, Global Fluency
(650) 433-4163 bschaeffer@globalfluency.com
For the Freeplay Foundation: Michelle Riley
(912) 898-2195 riley.freeplayfdn@gmail.com


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