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Today, May 21, in recognition of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we are happy to share that the global publishing company John Wiley & Sons has announced that, starting this month, it will begin including alternative text (alt text) in nearly all of its frontlist books. By incorporating alt text into its workflow, Wiley makes its content accessible to users of all abilities. The company developed its alt text guidelines in consultation with Benetech’s DIAGRAM Center and other industry standards organizations.

By Enrique Piraces, Vice President, Human Rights Program I write to let you know that after much thought and consideration, I’m leaving my position as the vice president of the Benetech Human Rights Program. I’m excited for the next chapter in my career and eager to see the work that the Human Rights team will […]

The Benetech Human Rights team is happy to announce the release of version 5.1 of Martus , our secure, free, open source information management and data collection tool for human rights defenders, activists, journalists, researchers, and civil society practitioners. In this version of the Martus desktop app, we have implemented significant user interface and user experience improvements, along with highly requested features. With these updates, Martus users can now more easily organize, find, and report on the information they collect to advance their goals.

Bookshare is the thriving community it is today thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of all of you—members, parents, teachers, mentors, volunteers, partners, and friends. We’re so grateful for your continuous support and can’t wait to bring the gift of reading and educational opportunities to even more people. Please help us bring Bookshare to others who need our services by supporting our Silicon Valley Gives (SVGives) fundraiser on May 5, 2015.

In Summer 2013, Benetech Labs set out to create a platform that empowers water and sanitation community managers in Latin America to share best practices and improve their services, and that also enables institutional funders to evaluate investments in the water and sanitation sector. We’ve made excellent progress with this project and built a diagnostic tool to improve community-based water and sanitation providers’ capacity to provide water and sanitation services to their communities. I’m delighted to share that the Paraguayan government is now using our tool in a nationwide project that aims to advance access to clean water in the country. This is a major step forward in a collaborative effort to tackle the challenges that Latin American community water and sanitation organizations face.