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WORLD BLIND UNIONChanging What It Means to be Blind
ANNUAL REPORTJanuary – December 2019
www.worldblindunion.org www.wbu.ngo
Message from the PresidentThe World Blind Union is the collective voice of the world’s 253 million blind and partially sighted children and adults. Through our regional and national member organizations, we advocate for equal access to education, employment, and community integration. We believe in the right and ability of blind and partially sighted people to live productive integrated lives, and we work to forge new and expanded opportunities.
The 2019 annual report provides detailed information about our work and our many accomplishments, and it demonstrates what we can and are doing to expand opportunities for blind and partially sighted people throughout the world.
The World Blind Union is recognized and respected for its representative nature by our many global partners including disabled persons’ organizations (DPOs). These partnerships broaden our impact in important ways.
During the year, we continued participation in high level discussions with national governments and United Nations agencies. We participated in global bodies such as the UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the main United Nations platform on sustainable development. We believe that our collaboration with the UN and global organizations will have a positive and lasting impact on the lives of blind and partially sighted people.
Recognizing that accessibility is a key component of greater independence and community integration, in 2019 we launched a flagship program on accessible urban development to ensure the needs of blind and partially sighted people are included in the design of smart cities and urban settlements.
Through our international partnerships, we work to expand opportunities for our members. For example, we initiated new projects in Africa and conducted training for our regional unions to help build the capacity of our members and to support their national and regional advocacy efforts.
The World Blind Union is committed to the full participation of women and youth. We believe in providing safe space for gender and youth issues to be addressed and priority actions identified. Accordingly, during the year, we organized face-to-face meetings for our gender and youth committees.
Also during the year, we invested significant time and resources preparing for our upcoming General Assembly. We cannot express strongly enough our appreciation for the efforts of our local host, ONCE, in managing all of the complex details associated with organizing a large international conference. Sadly, with the coronavirus pandemic, the General Assembly has been postponed until May 2021; however, safety is the first priority, and we know that the 2021 General Assembly will be a great success.
Our work is amplified by our many generous supporters. We wish to recognize and thank our scholarship sponsors for their support of our efforts to advance braille literacy, lifelong learning, and independent living, particularly in developing countries. With their support, during the year we were able to award scholarships to 12 students in Africa.
In closing, we wish to express our sincere appreciation to our sponsors, the WBU officers, committee and working group members, and all our individual regional and national member organizations for their invaluable contributions and for making a positive difference in the lives of countless blind and partially sighted people. Together, we continue to find innovative ways to achieve our mission of advancing opportunities for blind and partially sighted people worldwide, and we look forward to many successes in 2020.
Dr. Fredric K. SchroederPresident, World Blind Union
Our Work Our work is based on the 2017 to 2020 strategic plan comprised of five priority areas and articulated in specific objectives, initiatives, and
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action plans for each priority. Our key priorities are: Human Rights and Representation, Capacity Building, Accessibility, Information Sharing and Collaboration. Our Enabling Priority is: Organizational Effectiveness. These are further explained in our strategic plan.This report provides an overview of the initiatives that were accomplished in advancing our priorities in the past year. And while the report focuses primarily on initiatives undertaken at the global level it is important to recognize the significant contributions of our Regional Unions in achieving our objectives and advancing our work.Thus, in the implementation of our strategic plan we aim to be inclusive of our six geographic regions: our diverse population of blind and partially sighted persons including women, youth, children, older persons, and indigenous persons. Indeed, diversity is a cross-cutting theme that is reflected in our priorities and objectives.Highlights As we highlight the main achievements of 2019, our quest to work towards a world that is increasingly accessible to blind and partially sighted persons remained a key focus of our priorities. As such, we launched a flagship programme to promote sustainable urban development and smart cities and accelerate global advocacy for inclusive universal design of cities and urban development agenda.
And for the first time, we were invited to participate and provide technical support at the 1st Assembly of UN-HABITAT and Stakeholder forum in Nairobi, Kenya. It was an opportunity to represent our community and raise the recognition of WBU in a global discourse on urban development. In addition, we participated in the 2019 World Congress of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), a global federation of more than 240,000 regional and local governments. WBU contributed to the development of a Policy Paper on Inclusive and Accessible Cities which was adopted by the congress outlining commitments and direction of the federation to improve their support to cities to become more accessible and inclusive of all.
Meanwhile, WBU was elected as co-chair of the Partner Constituency Group of Persons with Disabilities within the General Assembly of Partners (GAP). GAP is a multi-stakeholder platform recognised in the New Urban Agenda. WBU’s mission in leading this stakeholder group is to foster increased involvement of WBU members and DPO partners around accessibility and inclusion in
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urban development.
In ensuring that our national members are fully supported and actively engaged in the implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), we developed two national projects in Kenya and Uganda. The project on "Mainstreaming Accessibility and Disability Inclusion in Disaster Risk Reduction Policies in Kenya" aimed at advocating for implementation of disability inclusive frameworks in relation to humanitarian emergencies. In Uganda, the project aimed at "Advocating for the inclusion of the Washington Group of Questions in the national census". Several members were trained to enhance their capacity in advocating for these critical human rights issues.
In line with WBU's priority of engaging with stakeholders to protect the human rights of blind and partially sighted persons and to ensure that they are fully included in the national development agenda, we launched a national project in Kenya to document the country's implementation of SDGs. The project is a strategic mechanism to examine the extent to which the government of Kenya is achieving the goals and targets set out in the SDGs in compliance with the UNCRPD.
In recognition of the importance of full participation and representation of blind and partially sighted persons at the UN and other International agencies, we provided technical advice at various high-level forums. For example, the WBU President attended a High-level meeting of the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in April 2019. Dr. Schroeder was a panelist in an interactive discussion on “Progress towards SDG 8: good practices and lessons learned”. This event was an opportunity for taking stock of the progress in the implementation of sustainable development objectives in promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Meanwhile, the CEO participated at EU-Arab High-level Meeting on Disability Rights held in Valletta, Malta in April 2019. It was the first time that WBU was invited to participate at the meeting attended by Ministers from the EU and Arab states and their representatives, together with UNCRPD national focal point representatives. The meeting was preceded by a technical day of sharing expertise in the area of disability, bringing together local, EU and Arab experts and civil society representatives.
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In furthering our human rights representation priority, the CEO, in his capacity as the Permanent Representative of the UN Stakeholder Group of Persons with Disabilities addressed the UN Forum on Financing for Development held at the UN Headquarters in New York in April. He urged the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development to examine governments’ performance in conducting human rights impact assessment of fiscal policies, with a particular emphasis on responsiveness to the rights of persons with disabilities.
WBU also participated in the sixth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019) in Geneva, Switzerland in May 2019. It was convened and organized by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and hosted by the government of Switzerland. WBU Treasurer, Ms. Martine Abel-Williamson represented the WBU and emphasized the importance of mainstreaming disability across stakeholder groups and the UN system to ensure inclusive and accessible approaches and equality for persons with disabilities. This was the last global gathering for stakeholders before the deadline for the achievement of Target E of the Sendai Framework: "Substantially increase the number of countries with national and local disaster risk reduction strategies by 2020".
In addition, WBU provided technical and financial support to members and officers to participate at the 7th Africa Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the forum, the WBU president highlighted the critical role of inclusive education and lifelong learning as the determining factor to foster inclusive and transformative development. The Africa Forum on Visual Impairment is a global conference which began in 1996 and offers an opportunity for individuals and agencies to exchange ideas, share best practices and promote new assistive technologies in the field of visual impairment to improve the lives of persons with visual impairment in Africa. Meanwhile, WBU continued to promote braille literacy and lifelong learning through its scholarships programme. 12 students in Africa were awarded the scholarships this year.
Overall, 2019 was a successful year as we continued to implement our strategic priorities and new initiatives. We are grateful to our members and sponsors for their contribution and support throughout the year, as we look forward to new opportunities in the next year 2020.
Strategic Priority: Representation & Human Rights
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Outcome: Increased participation and inclusion of blind and partially sighted persons, in global forums for human rights
key areas 1.1. Ensure that the needs and views of blind and partially sighted people are represented and mainstreamed within the international arena, particularly the UN system.1.2. Ensure that the WBU and its members are actively engaged in the implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at both the international and national levels.1.3. Ensure that the WBU and its members understand the implications and opportunities provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and proactively engage in their implementation and monitoring process at all levels.1.4. Engaging with members, other stakeholders and international development organizations to protect the rights of blind and partially sighted persons in situations of disaster, humanitarian emergency or conflict and to ensure that all services and programs are accessible to them
Summary Outcomes
The WBU continues to take an active role in representing blind and partially sighted persons to the UN and relevant agencies.
WBU was represented at the UN High Level Political Forums (HLPF) on Sustainable Development and Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). HPLF is a subsidiary body of both the UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council responsible for the entire organization's policy on sustainable development. It adopts negotiated declarations, reviews commitment and the progress of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The WBU CEO represented WBU at the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (FfD Forum) in April. FfD is mandated to review financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
WBU was also represented at the EU-Arab High-level meeting on Disability Rights in April 2019.
We actively continued to promote international days of relevance including World Braille Day, International Women's Day, World
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Book and Copyright Day, International Guide Dogs Day, World Sight Day, White Cane Safety Day, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Human Rights Day etc.
WBU President, Dr. Fred Schroeder, represented WBU at a High-level meeting of the 100th anniversary of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in April 2019. During the meeting, he participated as a panelist at a session on “Progress towards SDG 8: good practices and lessons learned”.
WBU Treasurer, Ms. Martine Abel-Williamson, addressed UN Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2019) in Geneva, Switzerland, in May 2019. It was organized by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and hosted by the government of Switzerland.
The CEO represented WBU at Partners for Review meeting held in Oaxaca, Mexico. Partners for Review, is a Transnational Multi-Stakeholder Network for a Robust Review Process of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Our regional unions have taken an active role in UN representation with some of the unions being actively involved in regional dialogues around the SDGs, Sendai Framework and other relevant human rights instruments.
WBU CEO, in his capacity as the Permanent Representative of the United Nations Stakeholder group of persons with disabilities continued to contribute to the broader disability agenda while raising the visibility of the World Blind Union and the needs of blind and partially sighted persons within the UN.
During the year, WBU continued its engagement in international discussions around data collection for persons with disabilities as well as other key issues such as access to social protection programs, employment and inclusive education. In this line, different WBU representatives along with WBU national members' leaders have taken part in trainings and debates where the voice of blind and partially sighted persons was raised.
WBU continued to strengthen collaboration with the International Disability Alliance (IDA). The CEO continues to serve in the IDA international program committee. WBU has also expanded its partnership with other organizations such as CBM, Sightsavers, SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) etc.
In November, the WBU development committee conducted a meeting to identify challenges and opportunities for WBU in relation to the work of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other UN Human rights treaty bodies.
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The meeting also discussed the UN Disability Inclusive Strategy, WBU position on mainstreaming and cross-disability collaborations, the role of the regions as lobbyist towards international bodies among other topics. MS. Gertrude Ofori Fefoame, UN CRPD committee member and Global Advocacy Advisor of SightSavers was the key speaker.
WBU Officers, members, and partners from Africa and around the world participated at the 7th Africa Forum on Visual Impairment held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Among the WBU delegates were the President, Dr. Fred Schroeder; Second Vice-President, Ms. Donatilla Kanimba, Secretary General, Mr. Ajai Kumar Mittal; Treasurer, Ms. Martine Abel-Williamson; Africa Regional President, Mr. Ishumael Zhou; CEO, Mr. Jose Viera and Representatives of African Union of the Blind (AFUB). The theme of the Forum was “Achieving African Union Agenda 2063 and the SDGs through Innovation, Access and Lifelong Learning”.
ICEVI Executive Committee meeting was also held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. WBU Secretary General, Mr. Ajai Kumar Mittal, attended.
Challenges, lessons learned and way forward:
WBU's work of ensuring the mainstreaming of UN CRPD standards at national levels is critical. However, mainstreaming CRPD in local legal frameworks remains a challenge since many governments are not sufficiently budgeting for legal reforms.
This emphasizes the need for more investment in advocacy with UN agencies and governments, as we continue to promote and monitor the inclusion of the CRPD standards within local legal frameworks.
Strategic Priority: Capacity BuildingOutcome: Strengthened capabilities and capacity of the WBU regional structures and member organisations
key areas
1. Improving employment opportunities for blind and partially sighted persons
2. Work to ensure the sustainability of the WBU Regions3. Improving the capacity of our member organizations, including
our International members, to engage with each other to
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facilitate interactions, resource sharing, and working collaboratively
4. Supporting our target populations for full inclusion5. Improving access to rehabilitation services by blind and partially
sighted persons
Summary Outcomes
A WBU employment survey was conducted in 2019-2020. The purpose of the survey was to identify employment patterns of blind and partially sighted persons throughout the world. The survey will help us understand how best WBU can advocate for individuals who are blind or have partial sight. Results will be announced at the upcoming General Assembly in 2021.
A low vision survey was conducted among individuals with low vision to determine their perspective on inclusion and barriers they face. 955 individual surveys were received from about 50 countries. Results are being analysed and a report will be presented at the General Assembly.
The World Braille Foundation was dissolved, and assets and its operations were transferred to WBU. We were therefore able to provide scholarships to build the capacity of youth in developing countries. The scholarships are aimed at promoting braille literacy and lifelong learning particularly in developing countries. The scholarships are advertised via e-bulletin and the website. In 2019, we received a total of 41 applications from the following countries: Nigeria – 8; South Africa – 1; Chad – 9; Palestine – 1; Togo-13; Uganda – 2; Cameroon – 4; Malaysia – 1; Eritrea-2. 12 applicants were awarded the scholarships.
Challenges, lessons learned and way forward: Improving the capacity of our members continues to be a challenge due to limited resources.
Strategic Priority: AccessibilityOutcome: Working towards a world that is increasingly accessible to blind and partially sighted persons
key areas
1. Improving Access to Information for blind and partially sighted persons WBU Annual Report 2019 10
2. Promoting access to low and high technology solutions for blind and partially sighted persons
3. Promoting full access to consumer and household goods4. Promoting full access to the environment for blind and partially
sighted persons including safe and independent travel and access to transportation.
Summary Outcomes
As the first global organisation of persons with disabilities, WBU launched its flagship programme within inclusive and accessible urban development, "the Accessibility in Smart Cities initiative". The programme was set out to raise the voices of blind and partially sighted persons and contribute to enhanced collective efforts within the global disability rights movement in urban development. It aims at enhancing representation and advocacy, increased capability of WBU and DPO partners on accessibility and urban issues, enhance collaboration with key global players in the field of smart cities and urban development, to share knowledge and practices in accessibility, and to increase dialogue with private sector stakeholders to shape inclusive and accessible solutions for tomorrow’s cities.
During 2019 WBU published statements on accessible air travel, electric mobility devices, on the World Cities Day and successfully delivered policy statements related to accessibility and inclusion in cities as per the request by WBU’s member organisations.
Within the 2019 programming on inclusive and accessible urban development, WBU also participated in the High-Level Political Forum and Conference of States Parties where we actively contributed in different events to present the program and extend WBU’s networks.
In addition, WBU participated in the 1st Assembly of UN-HABITAT and Stakeholder forum in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2019 to raise the recognition of WBU in relation to the global discourse on urban development.
In addition, WBU participated in the 7th Asia-Pacific Urban Forum by invitation from UN-HABITAT and contributed with presentations on accessibility in urban planning and design of public spaces, and on how accessible public spaces can be measured.
WBU was represented in the 2019 World Congress of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), a global federation of more than 240000 regional and local governments. We contributed to
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the development of a Policy Paper on Inclusive and Accessible Cities which was adopted by the congress outlining commitments and direction of the federation to improve their support to cities to become more accessible and inclusive of all.
WBU facilitated a workshop on Accessible Smart Cities during the 7th Africa Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to raise awareness around the concept of smart cities, and to discuss some of the accessibility challenges WBU’s constituency face.
WBU was elected as co-chair of the Partner Constituency Group of Persons with Disabilities within the General Assembly of Partners (GAP). GAP is a multi-stakeholder platform recognised in the New Urban Agenda. WBU’s mission in leading this stakeholder group is to foster increased involvement of WBU members and DPO partners around accessibility and inclusion in urban development.
As part of the Accessibility in Smart Cities Initiative WBU participated in the annual M-Enabling Summit in Washington DC held in June. The M-Enabling Summit is dedicated to promoting accessible and assistive technology.
The WBU and American Council of the Blind (ACB) contacted a global survey on general areas of the use of audio description and those results were disseminated to members and are available on our website .
Challenges, lessons learned and way forward: WBU would like to expand its urban development initiative across the regions by conducting awareness and capacity building trainings. However, the process is slow but steady due to limited financial and human resources
Strategic Priority: Information Sharing and CollaborationOutcome: Supporting and enhancing our advocacy, representation and capacity strengthening efforts through raising awareness and support for our campaigns and initiatives, providing information and resources on matters important to blind and partially sighted persons and collaborating effectively with others
key areas
1. Developing and making available a variety of resources to our members and the public through a variety of communications
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channels.2. Developing and strengthening international partnerships and
collaboration3. Promoting and advancing the use of braille through the work of
the World Braille Council
Summary Outcomes We continued to create awareness about our work and to raise
WBU's global presence through the website, social media, E-bulletin and emails.
The General Assembly was the main activity promoted through our communications channels.
Our sponsors and potential donors are kept abreast about the WBU work through various publications including the annual report and financial statements.
We have continued to maintain an active presence on social media, disseminating Tweets and Facebook posts about our work. Our messages are frequently retweeted and shared and the number of our followers is increasing.
The WBU scholarships programme is promoted extensively through the website and E-bulletin. The number of applications has increased over the year.
We produced annual statements for international days that are of relevance to the WBU including World Braille Day, White Cane Day, World Sight Day, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, International Day of Human Rights, International Women’s Day and others as they emerge as relevant. These are all translated, distributed to our members for their advocacy work and posted on our website and social media.
We continued to enhance communications with our community and leadership by conducting regular online meetings, webinars and emails updates.
New resources and useful links were posted on the website and circulated through E-bulletin.
Challenges, lessons learned and way forward:
Gathering updates, resources and important information from our regions and national members remains a challenge.
Enabling Priority: Organizational EffectivenessOutcome: Ensuring the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and
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sustainability of the WBU.
key areas
1. In cooperation with the Regional Unions, supporting the members of the WBU to optimize their representation of blind and partially sighted persons.
2. Overseeing WBU financial resources
3. Developing and implementing strategies to generate resources to support the work of the WBU.
4. Undertaking a review of the WBU membership fees structure
5. Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the WBU operations to support its work.
6. Developing and implementing a leadership program for future WBU leaders.
Summary Outcomes
In February, three new staff were recruited including Mr. Hannes Lagrelius, Programme Officer, Accessibility in Smart Cities Initiative; Ms. Jessica Kashia Jacobie, Human Rights Officer and Mr. Benjamin Dard, CBM’s Technical Advisor for accessibility and universal design.
A WBU Help Desk Consultant was also recruited. A systematic process has been developed to acknowledge and
monitor new membership applications. We welcomed new national members including: The Bahamas Alliance for the Blind and Visually Impaired (BABVI/The Alliance), National United Society of the Blind Barbados, Guyana Society for the Blind, Jamaica Society for the Blind, Saint Lucia Blind Welfare Association (SLBWA), Associación Costarricense de Personas con Discapacidad Visual (ACOPEDIV) and East Timor Blind Association (Associação Halibur Deficiência Matan Timor Leste – AHDMTL).
The annual financial audit was conducted without an issue and there were no specific recommendations by the public accountants for process improvement. The financial management and support have continued to be very good with the help of CNIB Finance team who handles our WBU Accounting.
The WBU Finance Committee continued to provide oversight to the financial operations through approval of each annual
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operating budget, review of the operating statements and regular communications with the CEO.
Most of our members have continued to provide their support to the WBU both financially and in kind. We especially thank members who have been providing core support sponsorships during the last number of years and have continued that support. We were pleased with additional financial support from Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Lighthouse San Francisco, and National Industries for the Blind (NIB).
We further acknowledge the ongoing financial and technical support from CBM and IDA. Thanks to their support, we were able to implement three new projects in Kenya and Uganda.
In addition, we appreciate ongoing donations in kind by Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland) towards supporting table officers’ participation from developing countries.
Following the success of the last joint General Assemblies WBU jointly with ONCE and ICEVI will organise another joint assembly in Madrid, Spain in 2021. Preparations for this event were well underway throughout the year including registrations, delegates sponsorships, nominations among other processes. Members were kept abreast with the plans as information was shared regularly and updated on the WBU website and on the special World Summit website created for this event. Among key themes to be discussed at this major global event include: Artificial Intelligence: Services Accessible Using the Voice, a new technological age for blind and partially sighted persons; Advocacy and DPOs Accountability: effective tools for implementing and monitoring human rights and inclusive sustainable development and Influencing the global agenda on disability, the role of our organizations in promoting the meaningful participation and inclusion of blind and partially sighted persons. Hundreds of participants from around the world are expected to participate in this event.
Work on the review and updating of WBU policies and procedures was ongoing through the year with several internal and external policy papers and position statements updated and new ones developed to reflect our ongoing needs. They are available on the WBU website.
Face-to-face meetings of the Officers were held in Greece and Denmark. Minutes were circulated accordingly.
Challenges, lessons learned and way forward:
Funding of face-to-face officers' meetings remains a challenge.
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Discussions are underway to hold some of the meetings virtually.
Our Key Supporters
Once again, we have managed to deliver our work within budget, with careful oversight of our financial management. We are indebted to our Finance Committee for their continued guidance and support. Most of all, we are grateful to our sponsors for their cash and in-kind contributions that are extremely important to us and help sustain our operations. It is through their support that we were able to implement projects and other initiatives. We are grateful for their continued support and trust.
Please see our annual audited Financial Statement for detailed information.
The following WBU members contributed to core sponsorship over and above their membership fees.
Platinum Sponsors CBM International Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) Foundation National Federation of the Blind (NFB), USA Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE) Sightsavers International Vision Australia Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc
Diamond Sponsors Lighthouse San Francisco Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted (NABP)
Gold and Loyalty Sponsors
National Industries for the Blind (NIB) Danish Association of the Blind (DAB) German Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted (DBSV)
Other Projects Funders and Supporters CBM International
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DFID through IDA The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
(SIDA)
Donations in kindContribution from Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland) toward supporting table officers’ participation from developing countries.
Conclusion
We do hope that this summary provides you with useful and interesting information about WBU’s work and achievements over the past year. We have set ourselves an ambitious plan to make WBU a more modern, inclusive organization. With the increasing support from our members and global alliances, we have achieved most of our benchmarks set out in our strategic plan. As we strive to achieve our vision of a more inclusive community, we fully understand that there is a great deal to be done to achieve this vision. A continued support from our members and sponsors is critical.
We wish to express our appreciation to our Officers, our Committees and Working Groups, our sponsors and all our members for the important roles they play in helping us advance our work for the benefit of the 253 million blind and partially sighted people that we represent worldwide.
OUR WBU LEADERS 2017 – 2020 WBU OFFICERSDr. Fredric Schroeder, [email protected] Mr. Fernando Riaño, 1st Vice [email protected] Ms. Donatilla Kanimba (from September 2017)
2nd Vice [email protected] Mr. A.K. MittalSecretary [email protected] Ms. Martine [email protected] Mr. Arnt HolteImmediate Past [email protected]
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REGIONAL PRESIDENTS
AFRICA (AFUB)Mr. Yaw Ofori Debra Mr. Ishumael Zhou (from Oct 2019)[email protected]
ASIA (ABU)Mr. Santosh Kumar [email protected]
ASIA PACIFIC (WBU-AP)Ms. Michiko [email protected]
EUROPE (EBU)Mr. Wolfgang Angermann Mr. Rodolfo Cattani (from Oct 2019) [email protected]
LATIN AMERICA (ULAC)Mr. Volmir Raimondi [email protected]
NORTH AMERICA /CARIBBEAN (WBU-NA/C)Mr. Charles [email protected]
WBU STAFFMr. José Maria VieraChief Executive [email protected]
Ms. Ianina Rodriguez, Administrative Assistant ianina.rodriguez@wbu .ngo
Ms. Terry Mutuku, Communications and Strategic Development [email protected]
Ms. Jessica Kashia Jacobie, Human Rights Officer [email protected]
Mr. Hannes Lagrelius, Program Officer, Accessibility in Smart Cities InitiativeHannes.Lagrelius@)wbu.ngo
Mr. Benjamin Dard, Global Accessibility [email protected]
Committee & Working Group Chairs
Marrakesh Treaty Ratification CampaignMaryanne Diamond/ Scott LaBarre
Access to the EnvironmentMartine Abel-Williamson
TechnologySachin Pavithran
Human Rights
S.K. Rungta
EmploymentAngela Hartley
DevelopmentA.K. Mittal
Women’s NetworkCathy Donaldson/ Donatilla Kanimba (as of February 2018)
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Youth NetworkDiane Bergeron
Elderly Persons NetworkCharles Mossop
Low Vision NetworkPenny Hartin
World Braille CouncilKevin Carey
Regional SustainabilityVolmir Raimondi
Disaster Risk ReductionMichiko Tabata
ConstitutionWolfgang Angermann
FinanceMartine Abel-Williamson
Membership FeesMartine Abel-Williamson
NominationsMaryanne Diamond
CommunicationsFernando Riaño
Resource GenerationFernando Riaño
CRPD & SDG Committee workFernando Riaño and Lars Bosselmann
CONTACT US
World Blind Union1929 Bayview AvenueToronto Ontario Canada M4G 3E8Tel: 1 416 486 9698Fax: 1 416 486 8107Email: [email protected] Web: www.worldblindunion.org www.wbu.ngo Twitter: @Blindunion Facebook: BlindUnion
WBU Annual Report 2019 19
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