Within the “Increasing Financial Literacy of Population” project, in 2019, “KMF-Demeu” Fund continued sharing “11 lessons” brochures printed with Braille tactile writing system with regions. As a reminder, in 2018, the first 8 sets in Russian were given to the library and the Public Fund for the blind and visually impaired people of Almaty. This year, KMF employees have handed over 17 sets of brochures in Russian and Kazakh to specialized libraries for the blind, special boarding schools, and the Association of the Blind. Entities that received brochures are located in Almaty, Pavlodar, Ekibastuz, Shchuchinsk, Kostanay, Taraz, Shymkent, Kyzylorda. Each set of training materials consists of ten thick brochures. In the library for the blind and visually impaired citizens of Shymkent, Ms. Saltanat Ibragimova, the head of the Ordabasy outlet, gave a brief insight into the training material “11 lessons” for library staff, since almost all employees of the entity have limited vision. During the presentation, Saltanat told about KMF activities, including social projects. At handing over the brochures in the Kostanay library, the staff noted that such literature on financial education had not been in their institution before. This being said, they were surprised that there are entities that issue such materials specifically for the blind at no cost. All library employees expressed their gratitude for such useful manuals. “From now on, we plan to carry on with involving people with special needs, both in the project of financial literacy increase, and in other social projects enabling each person to equally participate in social life through development and implementation of specific decisions”, Ms. Assel Shegebayeva, General Director of “KMF-Demeu” Fund, reported. It should be noted that the financial literacy brochure in Kazakh in Braille issued by “KMF-Demeu” Fund is the first educational product of its kind in Kazakhstan. Braille letters (French Braille) - is a raised-dot tactile writing system used for writing and reading by the blind and those who are visually impaired. It was developed in 1824 by Louis Braille, a Frenchman, who was the son of a shoemaker. At the age of three, Louis was injured in his father’s workshop with a saddler’s knife; due to the inflammation of the eye, the boy lost his sight. At the age of 15, Louis created his raised-dot letters as an alternative to raised letters of Valentine Haüy, having been inspired by the simplicity of the “night writing” of Charles Barbier, an artillery captain.
