Library Services for Blind People: an African perspective

The aim of this paper is to raise awareness in the IFLA community regarding the situation of blind people in Africa. There are nearly 7 million blind people in Africa; in most African countries, less than 10 percent of blind children receive schooling. This paper is based on information gathered from African delegates to the IFLA Libraries for the Blind Section Conference in Grahamstown, South Africa, in August 2007. No information was available about the Francophone or Lusophone countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The paper briefly outlines the situation of library services for the blind in South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia, and goes on to discuss issues of literacy and education, scarcity of services, standards and expectations, and the technological divide. The author concludes that what we do in the field of education, and what we do about education in each and every country, will change the future prospects of blind people.