Commission on Co-operation with Blind and Partially Sighted in Developing Countries

Report to the EBU Board and the 7th General Assembly regarding the period 2000-2003











1. Introduction

At EBUs General Assembly in Prague November 1999 focuses on a wider involvement of organisations of and for the blind in the work towards developing countries received strong attention. A resolution (res. 99-8) was passed touching on issues concerning economic resources and other means of assistance for blind and partially sighted in developing countries.

It was decided to uphold the Co-operation Commission and I had the honour to be appointed as the Commission chair.

The Commission is vital in the attempt to make more organisations of and for the blind in Europe keen on taking on partnership activities with counterparts in developing countries. It is a splendid opportunity to collate information from people who are involved in this field and exchange experience, co-ordinate efforts, demystify differences in strategy and policy and circulate important information for the actual target groups, the needy brothers and sisters and their organisations in developing countries.

Even in these days of world-wide electronic networks, there is a conspicuous lack of know-how and knowledge about issues that seemingly should have been addressed ages ago : The supply of braille paper of good quality and in abundant quantities for an affordable price; Low-cost, easy-to-repair braille machines; general purpose training manuals for leadership training and empowerment. The Commission is a means of improving the situation regarding the circulation of such know-how and knowledge more widely, if it exists.

It is a fact that even within our own work field targeting the visually impaired, there is a need to co-ordinate and make all actions, activities and programmes transparent. We, representing the wealthiest part of the world, should be the first to avoid the pitfalls of duplication, counteraction or even competition where co-operation should work in the direction of synergy.




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2. Composition of the Commission

2.1. Initial composition: Initially, the Commission was rather small, since it (only) consisted of the following members:

John Heilbrunn (Chair)
Francisco Alves, Portugal (Vice-chair)
Chris Friend (UK)
Françoise Madray-Lesigne (France)
Giovanni Di Maio (Italy)
Ernesto Uría (Spain)
Edik Broslavsky (Ukraine)

Arne Husveg was appointed as the EBU Board link person to the Commission, which also ensured additional information regarding work carried out by the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially-Sighted.


2.2. Subsequent replacements and augmentations: Regrettably, in 2001, Giovanni Di Maio, an active although new Commission member, passed away leaving an unexpected and sad vacancy. We were blessed by the appointment in his place of Mr. Giuseppe Terranova from UIC (Italian Blind Union).

As for the Portuguese representative, Mr. Alves had due to his retirement been replaced by Jacinto Moita.

Finally, in 2002, the Swiss organisation (Fédération Suisse des Aveugles et Malvoyants) to the great joy of the Commission expressed its willingness to appoint Mr. Christian Hugentobler as a member of the Commission. Since it had been a very long time since Swiss representation in the Commission dealing with issues targeting Development countries, this appointment was particularly welcome.


2.3. The composition of the Commission at the time of replacement and final augmentation was diverse and wide-ranging. The Composition reflected organisations in countries with conditions of a certain variance and a good span in difference in ideologies and experience. Geographically, the members represented many language groups, areas of involvement and ranged from France and the UK in the West, to Ukraine in the East, From Denmark in the North to Italy, Portugal and Spain in the South. One could not wish a better representation!

Two things, though, should be added. One is that the commission with success has used the opportunity to invite resourceful guests to commission meetings, which has added diversity and strengthened networking.

The other issue is that, regrettably, our member from Ukraine has been somewhat sidelined. The reasons have been mainly two: The fact that Mr. Broslavsky has not been accessible by e-mail has led to a situation that it has been difficult to keep him updated on ongoing correspondence and events. Secondly, the fact that he has been unable to participate in any of the two meetings that took place in 2000 and 2002 has to a certain degree added to a situation of isolation.

As Chair, I must take the responsibility for this fact. But I must add that, although the principle of equality should lead to a free appointment of Commission members to whatever Commission, it seems somewhat problematic that an organisation from a country with vast economic problems (almost being 'developing' country itself), is appointed as member of a commission the purpose of which is to promote development work and identify national resources for such work.




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3. The EBU Board plan of Action for the working period

On the basis of resolutions adopted at the 6th General Assembly, recommendations made by the outgoing Commission and discussions held during the General Assembly, the following elements of the adopted Plan of Action addressed the Commission's working area directly or indirectly:


3.2 Developing countries (res. 99-8; Board 33; Com on Developing countries para.5.1).

The time is ripe for a further conference on how our national members can help our brothers and sisters in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Exchange of experience, good practice and know-how with one of our national members can make a big difference to visually impaired people in a developing country. Relatively small sums of money, properly used, can assist in achieving notable progress. The conference should aim to persuade those countries which do not already assist blind organisations in developing countries to devote some time, energy and particularly money towards this admirable cause.


3.3 Relationships between Western, and Eastern and Central European Countries

A working group should consider how Western countries best can assist our National Members in Central and Eastern Europe overcome the difficulties which they face resulting from the introduction of a free market economy.

Especially the priority given to a European Conference was received with gratefulness and content and the Commission was very determined to fulfill this commitment efficiently.





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4. General characteristics of the Commission activities during the working period.

There is no reason to hide that the success of the work of the Commission has been limited if measured by number of meetings or concrete tangible achievements.

It has been difficult to convene meetings and a number of concrete attempts have not been successful. Also, some of the goals set forth in the plan of action have not been achieved, although they seemed attainable and realistic at the time of formulation.




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5. Plan of Action

At its first meeting held in Rome, June 2000, a 6 point plan of action was adopted by the commission on the basis of previous work, recommendation by the 6th EBU General Assembly and the EBU Board Plan of action. The plan included:

- Activities within the general purpose of the Commission work including exchange of experience and information related to materials, activities, available manuals, training opportunities etc.
- Exploring funding activities from European Union sources and other possible financial resources.
- Developing and carrying out a European conference on development issues.
- The promotion and development of representative bodies of the blind particularly in Africa, the co-operation and respect towards and amongst such organisations and agencies to utilise relevant programmes.
- The carrying out of a quadrennial survey on the status of development work within European blind organisations.
- The issues regarding technical equipment and the quality of teaching and training should be highlighted through dialogue and necessary focus.





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6. Communication - use of the discussion list

Communication with Commission members has taken place through telephone conversations by letters, but mainly through use of the internet/every-mail services.

This has proved efficient and effective and an ongoing updating on certain important issues has been possible with very little effort.

The EBU discussion lists, also, has proved to be an easy and useful means for full and swift communication between members of the commission, the EBU President and the EBU Office, whenever needed.

As always with such more generally designed systems, there is a backside of the medal: Some Commission members have expressed their dissatisfaction that they, being on the discussion list, have been let in on communication on discussions that they, themselves consider as internal or rather inferior. An example is the ongoing attempt to determine points of time and places for meetings. Several such unsuccessful attempts have led to communication between the chair and some members containing not only matter-of-fact exchange of suggestions, but also reasons for why and why not. The practical method used by the parties has obviously been using the control R (reply to sender) command to ensure quick and ongoing feedback. The fact that this has implied the usage of the discussion list has not come to thought, but this fact has seemingly bothered especially those commission members who serve their organisation on a part-time and voluntary basis. They have experienced such exchange of good-hearted remarks, suggestions and so on as and a strain on the organisational manpower service.

Although I understand this point of view, I must admit that this is the burden of modern technology: Once on a discussion list, and inspired by the wish to let everybody in on communication to get as many points of view as possible on material as well as more structural matters, The more messages tick into your electronic mailbox. I suggest that this fact is circulated to all discussion list members when letting them in on the lists and asking them to show lenience, tolerance and, by the way, willingness to participate in any ongoing dialogue.




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7. Points of time for meetings

Two meetings have so far taken place in the commission, one in Rome, June 16-18 2000 and in Rungsted, Denmark February 23-24, 2002. During these two meetings 7 respectively 4 out of the entire number of commission members (8) were present.

Attempts to arrange a meeting during the last part of 2002, the beginning of 2003, or before and after the summer's holiday of 2003 have not proved successful. Several reasons may have contributed to this fact. The goal of the chair was to ensure a full or close to full participation. With rather few meetings and with new members onboard, I considered a meeting as successful, only if the attendance was very high. Furthermore, especially personalities within the field of collaboration with partners in 3rd world countries have packed and often rigid itineraries, for which reason a meeting opportunity determined one week, after the full feedback from all other commission members the next week have evaporated due to newly incoming travel appointments.

One attempt to place a Commission meeting on normal weekdays, based on the assumption that many low-price travel airline companies could make it possible to keep meeting expenses low even outside full weekend arrangements, proved impossible. The reason was that, firstly, there are still not full travel networks that cover all the countries from which commission members are appointed. Secondly, those who have a professional career outside their organisational work would be inhibited from joining such meetings.

For this reason, a meeting of the commission has been proposed for November 25, 2003, just prior to the EBU General Assembly. I believe at the time for submitting this report, that this will be money saving and be the only way to ensure that the many busy personalities of the commission will have set aside some time for the international work, something that I intend to take benefit of.





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8. Main topics dealt with

As mentioned previously, The Commission is a unique opportunity to share know-how, experience knowledge and information. It is a fact that developing countries are situated in many continents, that some North partners conduct work several places while others stick to a limited area geographically and workwise. Attempts to invent and/or design solutions, methods and technical tangible equipment goes on in a rather uncoordinated manner. There is not full coverage database where technical equipment and appliances, manuals, programmes etc. is to be found. This makes the quest of the Commission even more important and powerful.

Apart from some specific priority mentioned below, the commission has been updated on :

- Involvement of North organizations in developing countries
- The progress and achievements of the World Blind Union Working Group on Organizational Development, Capacity Building and Democracy
- The setting up of an information page under the EBU website dealing with low-price, quality assistive equipment and appliances
- Certain programmes carried out in developing countries of special interest for disabled/visually impaired women, such as a symposium regarding AIDS which was held in South Africa
- To what extent the Commission should devote time and its financial resources to needy organisations/visually impaired members within Europe, in particular in Eastern Europe, cf. section 3, issue 4.2 of the EBU board Plan of Action above. This issue put before the EBU Board who determined, that although it was recognised that some countries in the regions pointed out were extremely needy, the Term of Reference for the Co-operation Commission limited its scope of operation to developing countries outside Europe. It should be added that donations given to the special funds that our Commission is entitled to use for assistance, are earmarked to go to developing countries outside Europe. Moreover, a special working group under the EBU Board has been appointed to deal with the specific relationship between Western and Central/Eastern European countries.
- A lengthy more principal discussion took place regarding the introduction of IT equipment in developing countries to the benefit of the blind. In this discussion a representative from Force Foundation gave important information and valuable contributions.



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9. The planned conference

As one of its priority tasks, the Commission in its Plan of Action had highlighted a European conference on development work. This, too, was given priority by the EBU Board, cf. above section 3, cited para. 4.2. There had been no such conference since December 1991 in France and September 1994 in Norway. During the previous work period of the Commission the issue had been of great concern on how to vitalise the focus on the need to assist our blind brothers and sisters in developing countries with know-how and financial assistance. It was realised that it would be close to impossible to find the necessary conference funding from within the organisations represented in the Commission for which reason the identification of external funding would be necessary. The Commission members considered some possibilities including the European Council and the European Union Directorate-General Development. The Commission chair made a visit to Brussels to get some testimonies right from the "horses mouth", and he also joined a row of seminars on requirements, procedures and possibilities for EU funding of development programmes and activities.


In this context it should be noted that the environment within the EU system towards a raised awareness and closer linkage between development assistance programme priorities and the needs of Disabled persons in developing countries in view of poverty alleviation programmes has been considerably improved. A number of events have taken place during this working period of which the following should be mentioned :

- Meetings held within the framework of European Disability Forum in June 1991 to initiate the dialogue regarding development work and the concerns of disabled persons in developing countries
- Several meetings in Strasbourg with EU Parliamentarians in the autumn of 1991 along the same lines
- The adoption of the paper: Resolution on the rights of Disabled People and Older People in ACP ( African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries adopted by the ACP EU Joint parliamentary Assembly 2001
- The Submission of the background paper: Disability and Development Co-operation
- The circulation of a note to EU missions titled: ???Guidance Note on Disability and Development for EU Delegations (draft July 12, 2002).
With this development in mind, the Commission considered it even more likely that the searching for EU funds would end successfully. Nonetheless, all hopes were scattered. EU programmes do not favour North-North events a lot, and one-of-a-kind events like conferences, seminars or workshops are explicitly exempted from otherwise promising EU programmes.

An attempt to address the EU Commissioner Poul Nielson in person for some good advice was turned down by a standard reply from his employees. So, the end result, regrettably, has been that no such conference has been held due to lack of financial resources. It is still a prime priority for the Commission, but alternative methods and sources of funding must be identified to crack the financial nut!




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10. The EU application on an awareness raising programme

With the attempts in mind mentioned under section 9, the Commission through its chair with assistance by, amongst others, Mrs. Yvonne Toros, assessed a way of reaching the half-way point by preparing an application for grants from the EU budget line B 7 6000, in particular the subsection supporting awareness raising activities in North partner countries. This work was actually already started in 2000 between Sight Savers International, the EBU office through its Director and Danish Association of the Blind. Due to little time and realising the load of will involved in designing the theme for a realistic programme that would satisfy the diversity of ideological angles represented by the organisations involved, this first attempt was put on hold. The idea was to be ready with large parts of the basic material when a new call for proposals was submitted. Due to some lack of fluency at the Brussels arm of the EBU administration, a second call, deadline being midst March 2002, also was made known to the commission members two months prior to the deadline.

As usual when EU programmes are to be challenged, it involves time-consuming work, a lot of manpower, funding to hire special consultancy assistance, travel expenses in connection with the application design etc. As usual, the preparation and final sources of the application are worked out under extreme time constraints. The reason was the relative short notice, a exhaustive process in finding the 3 co-partners and getting the official financial approvement. It was not until the last week before handing in the application that final written clearance was given by the identified co-partners. Some potential co-partners were tempted but refrained from joining the draft programme. However, I would as main partner applicant like to thank in particular the Fédération des Aveugles de France, ONCE, Spain and UIC, Italy for help and support and also Acapo, Portugal for expressed willingness to join the programme later if at all possible. Also, the later indication from some of the partners about their ongoing interest might serve as a good basis for a future application.

My reason for using so many words on an activity that ended with a rejection (only 44 out of 246 applications received grants) is to relay some experience to the Board, members of the Assembly and, hopefully, a continuing Commission that it is important to establish a very secure mechanism to be able to know about a call for proposal immediate after circulation. The crux of the theme should be negotiated in place even before a call for proposal was circulated and the intention of possible partners should be well documented to ensure that the actual application in its contents makes maximum sense. It is a bit of truth that a basic idea often is modified and even distorted to accommodate the evaluators. In our case, the grounds for rejection given after 9 months of waiting and several addresses to the Commission seemed incomprehensible, disturbing to some of the co-applicants and minor in their substance. The reasons even not even relate to the actual requirements in the actual application format.

The groundwork has been done, and it would be a challenge to make a new attempt if a balanced own-contribution and ideological platform could be reached.




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11. Co-operation with African countries (ASTF)

In 1991, the French Federation of the Blind (FAF) generously donated half a million French Francs to the work of the Commission. Half of this sum was used to set up the so-called African Union of the Blind Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF). Apart from this donation, a total amount of 16.293 Euro has been donated to the Trust fund.

This fund has since its activation in 1996 disbursed 41.076 Euro to small scale income generating projects under the responsibility of organisations of the blind in African countries. The projects are as follows (Country - type of project - year of inception - grant source):

Southern Africa :
Mozambique, chicken-rearing, 2001, AFUB.
Central Africa :
Cameroon, 1998, brush-making, AFUB.
Chad, spaghetti-making, 1998 (2002), ASTF.
Rwanda, maize mill, 2001, ASTF.
West Africa, Zone 1 :
Ghana, Gari processing, 1998, AFUB.
West Africa, Zone 2 :
Burkina Faso, renting of shops, 2000, ASTF.
Benin, running of motorcycle taxi, 1997, ASTF.
Niger, fence-wiring, 1997, ASTF.
East Africa :
Uganda, bakery and knitting, 2001, ASTF.
Sudan, Poultry-rearing, 1998, ASTF.
Mauritius, ratan workshop for production and training, 2000, ASTF.
Ethiopia, cafeteria, 2000, ASTF.
Northern Africa :
Tunisia, production of floor clothes, 1998, ASTF.

It has been the intention during this quadrennium to take stake of the experiences and lessons learnt before initiating new income generating projects. Moreover, the balance of the fund capital did not suggest that any further investments in projects should take place.

As chair of this Commission I have served as the secretary of the Fund Committee during regular meetings and have undertaken a number of assignments together with the African Union of the Blind Executive Director. The other three members of the ASTF Committee who scrutinise and monitor all applications and approved projects are appointed by and amongst the AFUB Board.

Without going too much into details in this end-of-term report, I can say that some of the investments / projects have proved very viable. Others have taken some time to get into active motion, while still others have yet not really come to life. Careful monitoring by the ASTF Committee and some of the AFUB Regional Officers is essential in gathering experience and turning it into useful recommendations and guidance for future project applicants.

I would like to extend my warmest thanks to the EBU Board and, in particular the treasurer, who has been very instrumental in urging all Union members to consider financial support to this fund and the other pool of money mentioned under the next section.

Having the opportunity to monitor the activity of the ASTF has proved very useful and serves to establish good and constructive communication between the EBU and AFUB.




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12. The EBU Development Fund

The other half of the generous donation mentioned above under section 11 was put into a so-called EBU Development Fund. This, too, has been augmented through donations by some EBU member organisations.

This Fund is not limited to projects in African countries and, unlike ASTF, its guidelines are more flexible and simple. A 3-person sub-committee under the Commission deals with applications. During this period the sub-committee has consisted of: John Heilbrunn, Chair, Mrs. Francoise Madray-Lesigne, and Mr. Francisco Alves (later replaced by Ernesto Uria and Giuseppe Terranova and the Commission Chair have been serving as decision-makers).

It is the purpose of this fund to support more continentally oriented projects. During this work period the following grants have been approved:

- Support to enable co-operation between the Iceland and Malawi organisations of the blind
- A partial support of the newly appointed female ULAC President Gloria Peniza to enable her to work from her home office in Venezuela
- Support for strategy development within African Union of the Blind and for participation of AFUB resource persons and Board Members in the work to influence on and develop the African Decade of Disabled persons declared by OAU (now AU) in 1999
- Support of an event in 2002 in Congo Brazzaville where important steps were taken to establish and national coverage organisation of the blind and unite the fragmented groupings of blind persons.

This fund is considered very important and even small contributions really do a difference when properly utilised. I thank all donors who have helped in augmenting this fund through the years.

13. Recommendation for the future.
Let me first make a slight reservation since the Commission will have the opportunity to discuss and maybe come up with fresh recommendations during the planned meeting to take place on November 25, 2003.

1. A European conference is more pressing than ever. Due to financial restrictions this plan has been put off for more than one work term. Any suggestions or co-financing arrangements would be highly welcome.

2. The main goal of this Commission is as valid and important as ever: It is necessary to involve an increasing number of European countries in development work, not only by allocated funding, but also by twinning up with experienced organisations in taking the step into concrete project work, be it at a very initial stage and minor scale.

3. The information on the EBU webpage on low-price assistive equipment for the blind, in particular suitable for those in developing countries, and training manuals for blind organisations should be updated and made as full and comprehensive as possible.

4. Further attempts should be made to access EU funding through Commission efforts in collaboration with the EBU Liaising Commission. Also, funding opportunities through other international sources should be explored. Work should be carried out to gauge and, if possible substantiate, the possibilities for organisations of the blind in developing countries to access funding from local EU Mission sources.

5. For a future work period, one priority theme of special importance, would be HIV / AIDS, an issue that would in particular target blind women across Africa.

6. It is important to continue and improve co-operation with other EU Commissions. As for issues pertaining to technology, including the issue of next generation talking book with focus on developing countries, the Technical Commission should be taken onboard. As for alternative EU funding and new break-through in EU programmes towards disabled in developing countries, the future organisational structure on liaising between the AHU and the EU should be utilised. On gender and reproductive issues, the Commission dealing with the Advancement of Women should be involved as a partner.

7. To the effect that the WBU work on capacity building and development of a global strategy is carried on in the work term beginning 2005, the Commission should become an active backing to European representatives if appropriate.

8. As a very procedural, but practical recommendation, it is necessary that at the beginning of a term, all commission members clear a number of dates and alternative dates corresponding with the number of meetings to be held. People in the development field have terribly busy itineraries and have to make reservations in order to avoid fruitless and lengthy attempts to find meeting dates even 6 months ahead.




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