WORLD BLIND UNION

Changing What It Means to be Blind

QUADRENNIAL REPORT

2013 – 2016

www.worldblindunion.org

WBU Quadrennial Report 2013 – 2016 37

Message from the President

By Arnt Holte

It is my pleasure to provide to you this quadrennial report on WBU activities and achievements during the 2013 – 2016 term.
It seems like it was just yesterday that I assumed the leadership of the WBU following the General Assembly held in Bangkok.
Time has gone quickly and I am so proud of what we have been able to achieve together. I want to thank all WBU members for the trust you placed in the leaders you elected in Bangkok. I also thank all WBU Officers, the Executive, and our Committee and Working Group Chairs as well as our staff for your commitment and hard work in helping us achieve our objectives.

In the following pages, you will read about the many objectives that we set for ourselves during this quadrennial. It was an ambitious program of work that built upon the success and the foundations we laid out from the last quadrennial. I was pleased that we were able to advance our work in virtually every area of importance to us. As with any organization, some objectives were advanced more than others, but overall, I believe we can be very proud of our achievements.

If I were to identify one achievement that I believe has the potential to truly make life better for blind and partially sighted persons, it would be the adoption of the Marrakesh Treaty. I want to acknowledge
the hard work and perseverance of our Right to Read campaign team, led by Immediate Past President Maryanne Diamond who worked tirelessly, despite fairly considerable obstacles to achieving a treaty that could truly make a difference in improving access to information for blind and partially sighted persons. We still have work to do – we are now at 16 ratifications and we need four more for the treaty to come into force; then we need as many countries to ratify it as possible and then to implement it in a way that the treaty envisions. There is much to do, but we have the instrument, which means
the power is in our hands to make the treaty work for us. We are very grateful for the support being provided to us by the Open Society Institute Foundation to support our Marrakesh work.

Other highlights for me during the term include our enhanced presence at the international level, in particular at the UN and its agencies and treaty bodies. We really want to thank CBM for providing us with
the resources to have staff support to carry out this work.
Our engagement with IDA, Vision Alliance, and others has enabled WBU to take a strong voice on various matters of importance to us and expressing our views. We have also made real progress with respect to access to technology and access to the environment.
There are much more opportunities available to us as blind persons that are enhanced through accessible technology. For example,

the work of the Transforming Braille Consortium, led by Kevin Carey was truly exceptional. They had a dream of developing a braille display that would be affordable enough for developing countries.
I am delighted to tell you that this objective was achieved through
the partnership of many of our member organizations around
the world who came together to offer their resources and expertise to make it happen. This braille display will be ready and available at
the General Assembly as it has already been launched at a major technology conference.

While we celebrate the advances of technology, we are at the same time advocating to ensure that technological advances don’t bring harm to blind persons, such being the risk of the silent vehicles that are now in the marketplace. The tireless advocacy on the part of our First Vice-President, Fredric Schroeder is ensuring that our safety needs are being considered at the highest level.

These are only but a few highlights of some key achievements during the past four years. You will learn about many others as you review this quadrennial report. But as I mentioned earlier, these achievements would not be possible without the support of our leaders and of our members and donors. We thank those members who take seriously their responsibilities to support the WBU and the work we do through the regular payment of membership fees. There are some members who, despite reminders, simply choose not to pay their fees. We are disappointed that by not contributing to the financial health of the organization, you are putting more of a burden on your fellow members from other countries as well as weakening the WBU as
an organization. On the other hand, we have several organizations who contribute over and above their fees, providing additional core support contributions. We are so grateful for that ongoing support and indeed we would not be able to sustain our operations without that support provided so generously by our core support sponsors.

It is not possible to recognize all of the individuals that have played such an important role in our work over the Quadrennium.
I would, however, like to pay particular tribute to the Table Officers that were elected at the last General Assembly and also to the Regional Presidents who form the Officers Board. Our Regional Presidents work very hard on behalf of their regions, being the voice of the needs and views of their regions at the Officers table while offering their experience and advice so that we can collectively arrive at decisions that are beneficial to the whole organization. There two Table Officers who we know will be finishing their time with us as they do not plan to run for re-election at the upcoming General Assembly:
our Immediate Past President, Maryanne Diamond and our 2nd Vice President, Enrique Perez. Both Maryanne and Enrique have served for twelve years as Table Officers. That is an enormous personal commitment of time from both of them; we thank them so much for their service and we will miss their collaboration and engagement.

As I look to the future, I see many opportunities for the WBU to continue to strengthen our reach and our voice. We have made huge progress and we have the opportunity to continue to build on that as we move into the future. On behalf of our leadership team, I thank you for the privilege of leading our wonderful organization over
the past four years.

Introduction

The purpose of the WBU Quadrennial Report 2013 – 2016 is to consolidate and reflect on the work undertaken and achievements realized by the World Blind Union during the period since the last General Assembly in 2012. The report aims to inform the WBU membership about the work that has been undertaken at the global level and will form the basis of many of the discussions that will take place at the General Assembly. It is also hoped that this Quadrennial report will be a useful reference document and a resource for our members as well as those individuals interested in our work as it presents who the WBU is, where and how we work, the issues that are important to blind and partially sighted persons around the world and demonstrates the progress that can be made through collective action.

In compiling this quadrennial report, we have attempted to reflect on the major work that has gone on during the past four years in
the achievement of our Strategic Plan. In doing so, we have tried to incorporate the work of WBU committees, working groups and networks and that of the regions.

As was the case at the General Assembly in 2012, this Quadrennial Report is the consolidation of committee, working group, network, and regional reports. It will be translated and make available in accessible formats to the participants of the General Assembly and will be
a permanent record of our work on the WBU website. The individual reports that have been submitted will also be available for download from the WBU website for those interested in more detailed information. We hope that our members and other readers find this consolidated quadrennial report to be helpful and informative.

This quadrennial report provides a summary of our achievement of
the strategic plan over this four-year quadrennial. It has been a real pleasure to consolidate this information as our achievements have been many. We can justifiably be proud of what has been accomplished over the course of the last four years. While there is, of course, much more that still needs to be done, we can be proud of what we have achieved so far and the foundation that has been laid for our future work.

Respectfully submitted

Dr. Penny Hartin

Chief Executive Officer

Editor of the Quadrennial Report

Our Work

In February 2013, the newly elected WBU Officers, supported by
a number of resource persons, met to develop the Strategic Plan that would govern the work of the Union for the 2013 to 2016 period.
This strategic plan was operationalized through the development of
a detailed work plan which articulated objectives, initiatives and action plans for each of the identified priority areas. The achievement of this work plan formed the basis of the agenda for each Officers meeting; annual status updates were prepared and documented and we reported on our progress via annual reports to the membership.
The following pages will provide an overview of the priorities that were identified and our work in advancing those priorities throughout the four-year term. While this report does focus primarily on initiatives undertaken at the global level we have attempted to reflect on some of the work of our Regions in the achievement of our objectives as well. Our six Regions are very active in the achievement of these strategies and we refer members to the regional websites for more information about their specific activities.

Our Vision

The WBU has adopted a pyramid Vision structure which reflects our Vision of what we would hope to achieve within a twenty-year timeframe as well as our Vision for this strategic planning cycle which is four years.

Our long term, twenty-year Vision is:

A community where people who are blind or partially sighted are empowered to participate on an equal basis in any aspect of life they choose.

Our short term, four-year Vision, had four ladders that together would move us towards the realization of our long-term vision.
These four Vision ladders are:

1.  That WBU is recognized as the authentic voice representing blind and partially sighted persons at the international level

2.  That our members at all levels have the capacity and capability to deliver their programs

3.  That Blind and Partially Sighted Persons live in a world that is fully accessible to them

4.  That the WBU is recognized as an international source of information on matters related to vision impairment

Strategic Priority 1: Representation & Human Rights

Strategic Priority Leader: Fredric Schroeder, WBU 1st Vice President

“Promoting full participation and equal opportunities for blind and partially sighted persons in all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life and ensuring that their voice is heard at the global, regional and national levels in all matters affecting their lives.”

Our first Strategic Priority reflects the important role the WBU plays in representing the needs and views of blind and partially sighted persons within the international arena, as well as the important role we play in advocating for the human rights of blind and partially sighted persons.

Strategic Objectives:

Representing Blind and Partially Sighted Persons at the United Nations and relevant UN Agencies at the global and regional levels

Our work at the UN and its relevant agencies has resulted in
a stronger representative voice for blind and partially sighted persons at the regional and global levels. Where appropriate, we have joined our voice with the International Disability Alliance (IDA),
the International Disability & Development Consortium (IDDC) and other Vision Alliance members on those areas of mutual importance. We were particularly pleased with our joint advocacy work during
the post-2015 development process to ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities would not be left behind in the new Agenda 2030 Development framework. The new Sustainable Development Goals do mention persons with disabilities specifically, unlike their predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals, and we are now working with partners to ensure that the indicators and targets established to support the implementation and monitoring of these new SDG’s will appropriately reflect our needs.

Other significant undertakings within this current quadrennial period have included the following:

ü  The WBU has participated in a number of UN and UN agency events since the beginning of the quadrennial including: Conference of States Parties (COSP) and Civil Society Forum in New York on
an annual basis, including the organization of side events in 2014 and 2015 to promote the Marrakesh Treaty; WBU President, Arnt Holte had the opportunity to address the plenary session at both
the 2014 and 2015 COSP to raise the inclusion issues of importance to blind and partially sighted persons.