The 10th General Assembly of the African Union of the Blind (AFUB) will be held onOctober from 27th to30th 2023 in Rabat, Morocco. For more information click on the download button;
La 10ème Assemblée Générale de l’Union Africaine des Aveugles (UAFA) est prévue en octobre du 27 au 30 octobre 2023àRabat au Maroc.Pour plus d’informations, cliquez sur les boutons ci-dessous;
A 10ª Assembleia Geral da União Africana de Cegos (AFUB) será realizada de 27 a 30 de outubro de 2023,em Rabat, Marrocos. Para mais informações clique nos botões abaixo;
Mobility is an essential element of development strategies that aim to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).World Report on Disability published by World health Organization (WHO) says;
“people with disabilities are at a higher risk of non-fatal unintentional injury from road traffic crashes”.
As a civil society organization, we promote and advocate for the improvement of road safety for all. Mobility can help drive positive social change in many areas of society impacting favorably on several of the broader Sustainable Development Goals related to poverty, gender and sustainable consumption and production. This calls for governments and their partners to rethink mobility.
We play a significant role in fostering the conditions that make walking safe, by generating public demand for pedestrian safety; mobilizing action particularly at local level; and championing the right to safety for all road users, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities who are among the most vulnerable pedestrians.
We identify and establishes partnerships with committed and effective local organizations to implement road safety activities in targeted areas through public awareness-raising initiatives delivered in mass media campaigns (TV, radio and print media).
To mark the 7th UN global road safety week 15th -21st May 2023:#Rethinkmobility, we partnered with Outstanding Abilities Kenya (TOA-KE), National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD), Diani Walkers, Kwale Walk Movement, and Mariakani Walk Movement members walked a distance of 11 kilometers from Kombani Rehabilitation Centre to Ukunda show ground in Kwale County to raise awareness on road safety for persons with disabilities and accident prevention. The walk was officially flagged off by the Kwale Governor H.E Fatuma Achani who called upon road users to adhere to road rules.
Addressing journalists after the walk, Abraham Mateta, advocate and AFUB Human Rights Programme officer stated that;
” road safety is important especially to people who are blind and visually impaired. If the roads are not safe ,if people do not recognize our mobility tools like the white cane, it means that we will not be safe”
African leaders need to meet their disability rights obligations!
To celebrate this years African Day , Sightsavers in collaboration with African Union is hosting a webinar on African Disability Protocol on the 30th of May 2023 from 1-2pm East Africa Time.
Join us on calling African governments to ratify the ADP and join the fight for an equal world!
On the 10th of April 2023, the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired of São Tomé and Príncipe (ACASTEP) celebrated its 30th Anniversary under the theme “rebuild to include, darkness does not prevent the exercise of full citizenship”. An occasion that was presided by the President of the Republic, His Excellency, Engineer Carlos Vila Nova, Prime Minister Hon. Patricio Trovoada , Chief of staff and, other dignitaries.
A photo description; Seated on Right side; ACASTEP president Madame Eugenia Neto, in the middle is the President of the Republic, His Excellency, Engineer Carlos Vila Nova and on the further left side ;Mr. Lucas Amoda, AFUB acting executive director. They are seated facing the audience.
While presiding over the occasion, His Excellency, Engineer Carlos Vila Nova guaranteed to exercise his influence in the judiciary to tackle multiple issues affecting the visually impaired persons.
Speaking on the same occasion, the Prime Minister Hon. Patricio Trovoada raised the issue of accessibility to public services and health care by persons with disability. And, guaranteed to work in collaborations with both private and public institutions to improve access to facilities for person with visual impaired and to support ACASTEP in executing their programs and activities.
Also, the chief of staff highlighted the importance of inclusive public policies and development programs with an intention of alleviating the existing problems in the society.
As part of the celebration, ACASTEP carried out various activities aimed at promoting inclusivity and autonomy including lobbying for the ratification of the African Disability Protocol. Mr. Lucas Amoda, AFUB program officer for Promoting the Rights of Blind and Partially Sighted Persons in Africa urged the Sao Tome and Principe government to consider the excellent prospects the protocol present to persons with visual impairment and asked for their support.
In her speech, ACASTEP President Madam Eugenia Neto lamented on the lack of elaborated mechanism to include the visually impaired to have access to employment, education, health services, housing and others. She called upon the successive government to domesticate the African disability protocol and other laws pertaining to persons with disability which had been approved 11 years ago.
ACASTEP was founded on April 8, 1993 and as to date has approximately 350 members who are visually impaired. The organization has since then worked in collaboration with AFUB and other institutions to promote the Rights of the Visually Impaired Persons in São Tomé and Príncipe. During the month of April 2023, ACASTEP executed various activities aimed at protecting the rights of Visually Impaired People and boosting actions so that they are autonomous and integrated into society.
Project Cycle Management is a structured approach to manage multiple projects or programmes and to improve the quality of projects by learning from one project and applying the lessons in the following ones. It allows everyone working on the project to identify and monitor how the project is progressing; and whether there are any issues with particular aspects of the deliverables.
Despite the current context of the COVID 19 pandemic, on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, the Togolese Association of the Blind (ATA) with the support of the ADP Project (African Disability Protocol) celebrated the 2021 International White Cane Day under the theme chosen by Togo was: “the white cane and its carrier, what a look during and after COVID19“. This theme was debated throughout October on radio and television channels.
The glamorous afternoon event was opened by welcome remarks from the President of ATA and followed by the Vice-President of the FETAPH who set the ball rolling.
The climax of the celebration was marked by a conference-debate under the theme: “The African protocol on disability: a regional opportunity for the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”. Several well know individuals participated in this conference: the members of the Monitoring Committee of the ADP Project, the sister Associations of the ATA, the representatives of the FETAPH (Togolese Federation of Associations of Persons with Disabilities), the representatives of the international organizations intervening in the field of disability and media people. The panel discussion was moderated by Mr. MADOU Yaovi, who is visually impaired and has a doctorate in Public Law. Dr. MADOU Yaovi is also an associate assistant to the Public Universities of Togo.
Subsequently, Dr. BADAKU Maurice who holds a doctorate degree in education science took to the floor to raise public awareness on the use of the white cane. Dr. BADAKU Maurice is also a special education teacher and trainer of trainers in inclusive education / visual impairment and braille. It was also during this occasion that the ADP project was presented to the public for the first time after its successful launch in Togo by the project country coordinator.
At last, the highly anticipated moment came to pass when Dr. MADOU, the speaker of the day began his presentation with the definition of terms. He then highlighted the importance of this innovative protocol by explaining each article in simple French. He concluded by calling upon decision-makers at all levels to contribute towards the ratification of this continental legal instrument and to take measures for its effective implementation , keeping in mind that, each individual is a potential handicapped person.
We, participants to the Africa Regional Workshop on the Marrakesh Treaty held on 29th to 30th November 2021 in Nairobi, Kenya;
REAFFIRMING the freedom of persons with disabilities to seek, receive and access information on an equal basis with others and through forms of communication of their choice, as defined by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
CONCERNED that in many African States, laws protecting intellectual property rights continue to constitute an unreasonable barrier to access by persons with disabilities to published works in formats accessible to them
ACKNOWLEDGING that the Marrakesh Treaty facilitates access to published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled by requiring Contracting Parties to provide, in their national copyright laws, limitations or exceptions to facilitate the availability of works in accessible format copies for beneficiary persons
APPRECIATING the partnership between the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), the International Disability Alliance (IDA), the World Blind Union (WBU), the African Disability Forum (ADF) and the African Union of the Blind (AFUB) in convening this Workshop
THEREFORE call upon;
All African governments to expedite the ratification, implementation and enforcement of the Marrakesh Treaty and to integrate it into relevant national action plans
Development agencies to foster partnerships and allocate resources towards advocacy for the ratification, implementation and enforcement of the Marrakesh Treaty in Africa
Content creators and distributors in Africa to adopt inclusive publishing and distribution of content in line with the Marrakesh Treaty
The World Blind Union to sustain the capacity development of its national members, particularly in Africa, towards advocacy for the ratification, implementation and enforcement of the Marrakesh Treaty
The African Union of the Blind to facilitate mechanisms to popularize the Marrakesh Treaty among member states in order to expedite its ratification, implementation and enforcement
National organizations of persons who are blind or visually impaired in Africa to provide leadership in advocating for the ratification, implementation, enforcement and monitoring of the Marrakesh Treaty in their countries.
We the representatives of the youth in Central, Western, Eastern and Southern African Union/Organisations/Associations of the blind having gone through an intensive three-day training and appreciating work of AFUB towards promoting the youth agenda are:
Concerned that the AFUB constitution has not established a youth wing or a youth department in the AFUB constitution;
Worried of the fact that some member organisations of blind and partially sighted do not allow new leadership and democratic process;
Further concerned that some member organizations do not constitutionally recognize a youth wing;
We therefore, petition AFUB board and AFUB 9th General Assembly:
That AFUB Board discusses and considers the need to establish a Youth Wing of AFUB and tables a memorandum for constitutional amendment at the AFUB General Assembly to that effect;
That the assembly considers to constitutionally established youth wing of AFUB;
That the national organizations that do not have youth wings should as a matter of urgency, be encouraged to establish one;
That democratic practices in leadership transition should be encouraged;
That emergence of new leaders should be encouraged;
That the unions should be encouraged to strengthen the youth activities in the unions;
That the national members should be encouraged to introduce initiatives of interest to the young people to encourage them to be members.
In line with AFUB ‘s objective of strengthening the self-awareness of blind and partially sighted persons and to develop sense of responsibility, one of AFUB efforts is to build the capacity of women and youth as self-advocates and to exercise self-determination and self-representation. In view of this, AFUB organized Youth’s workshop and trained them on Human Rights / CRPD/African Disability Protocol as well as the Sustainable Development Goals from 9th-11th April, 2019. Opportunity was used to discuss on how to establish AFUB Youth Committee and they came out with their action plan. In addition, there were discussions on how to use sporting activities as a tool for advocacy and for demonstrating the potentials of blind and partially sighted persons.
The main objective of the workshop was to prepare the Youth to engage with the board to establish Youth Committee for AFUB and improved capacity of the youth committee within AFUB to achieve its mandate more effectively.
a person each was selected from each of the AFUB geographical sub-regions attended the workshop. However, North Africa representative was not able to attend due to unavoidable circumstances at the Eleventh hour. Representatives from the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired (SRF) who are knowledgeable on youth and sporting programmes and some selected AFUB staff members were present, these are:
Central Africa representative: Ms. N’levo N’zokafouka Solene Sophia Tania-Congo Brazzaville
East Africa representative: Ms. Sikudhani Vaiolet Sanga-Tanzania
Southern Africa representative: Ms. Esther Yanjanani Mbite-Malawi
West Africa representative: Ms. Nina Efedi Okoroafor-Ghana
Eveline Angonwi-Women chair, Cameroon, Yaoundé represented the board.
two SRF representatives; Ms. Rania Walid Mohamed and Aniina Liisa Ragna Karlsdottir-Sweden
The deliberations of the conference were in English and French with available simultaneous interpretation facilities.
The youth’s workshop considered training and introduction on Human Rights instruments such as:
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD),
The African Disability Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
The sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030)
Discussions on how to use sporting activities in Africa as a tool for advocacy and for exhibiting the potentials of blind and partially sighted persons in Africa.
Training on AFUB policy on communication,
Training on Gender mainstreaming.
At the end of the three-day interruptions and discussions, the conference achieved the following immediate results:
The Youth delegates developed their action plan and they were responsible for those plans.
The Youth commenced using different platforms for communication and sharing of information among themselves and their region, especially progress of their action plans.
The delegates have a better understanding of the key international and regional disability legislative instruments including UNCRPD, African Disability Protocol [ADP]
Identified common sporting activities that can be jointly organized for advocacy purpose amongst the regional bodies of AFUB.
Exchanged experiences and information between the Youth committee and the SRF representatives and discussed the way forward.
Delegates plan to drive the establishment of youth committee of AFUB as part of AFUB’s political structure.
Participants learned and shared from each other’s experience on youth related work.
Participants gained a better understanding on human and disability rights.
discussed how to use technology and communication skills as well as sports as tools for advocacy.
At the end of the forum, the youth agreed to file a petition to the general assembly on issues such as leadership in the unions, absence of established youth wings, the voice of women and youth in the society which is not heard. In view of this, the delegates agreed to influence their organizations to submit a proposal on the establishment of a youth wing or a youth department in the AFUB constitution by July. Only proposals from members who have paid their membership dues will be considered. They therefore came out with a declaration called “Nairobi Youth Declaration of AFUB”, which called the AFUB Board and General Assembly to support the establishment of Youth Committee within AFUB political structure.
