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The forum is the fourth gathering of its kind within 11 years where organizational leaders, experts, service providers and educationists from the blindness movement throughout Africa meet to exchange experience and best practice, raise awareness, create empowerment and network.
The fourth Africa Forum was described by participants as the most successful to date, and as attracted more than 300 participants from 37 African countries plus a dozen other countries from Europe, North America and Asia.
The more than 300 participants at the fourth Africa forum joined with the African Union of the blind to celebrate twenty years of operation. The Africa Union of the blind is the largest membership organization of blind persons on the continent and represent the voce of blind and partially sighted persons on the African continent. The Africa forum is coordinated in collaboration with the African union of the blind.
The Kenyan Minister for Gender, Sport, Culture and Social Services, Hon. Maina Kamada, stated that the government of Kenya was committed to becoming the second country following Jamaica to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Hon. Floyd Morris, who himself is blind, Minister of State, in the Government of Jamaica, gave the first keynote address and challenged blind persons in Africa to promote self-determination, demonstrate perseverance and understand the enormous value of education. He is a notable example of the increasing number of blind people achieving high office in public life.
Encouraged by the statement of Hon. Minister Kamanda the forum affirmed the need for engagement with government towards disability legislation and the full implementation of the UN convention.
Since the last forum, it became apparent that vast progress has taken place. Several key areas of service were identified and or affirmed by the forum.
1. Field dedicated to HIV/AIDS programmes targeted at persons with visual impairment. Key areas of priority have been and shall remain research, provision of accessible material, training of peer educators, gender responsive programmes and the use of mass media to spread knowledge and raise awareness about prevention, testing, care and support services. It was affirmed that the key strategy should be to mainstream the efforts by addressing national AIDS Commission bodies to access funding and ensure that all relevant issues pertaining to visually impaired persons are included in the mainstream programmes and policies.
2. Launching of the Sight Savers Dolphin Pen, a low-price portable powerful device which offers screen reader, screen magnification and text book reading capabilities. This device has come about through groundbreaking collaboration and support from Sight Savers International, UK's RNIB and Dolphin systems. The new Pen offers on arrival affordability and enhanced mobility at ten percent of the previous cost.
3. The forum affirmed the need to advocate for an interventionist approach by governments which can include imposing quotas, introducing progressive legislation and stressing the importance of quality education and job training, relevant to job opportunities.
4. With the launch of education for all children with visual impairment in Africa (EFA-VI) on Tuesday May 8 th the forum in partnership with the International Council for the Education of the Visually Impaired, affirmed that focused attention on inclusive education is the way forward for blind and partially sighted children and youth. There are currently 4.4 million children who are blind or partially sighted who do not have access to education. All children who are visually impaired deserve the right to an education.
This initiative is directly linked to the global Education for All campaign of UNESCO and the UN millennium goal on education.
5. For the first time at the forum, sports and leisure was discussed as significant in the lives of blind and visually impaired persons. The Forum was addressed by Kenyan Paralympian gold medalist and world record holder Henry Wanyoike.
6. The forum once again served as a launch pad for a new continental body. This time for people with albinism one of whose major effects is low vision. Six countries met and committed to work towards the formation of a Pan African albinism network.
Click here for a French language version of this text
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