Book Recounts More Than 30 Years of The Nippon Foundation’s Support for People with Visual Impairment

For more than three decades, The Nippon Foundation has supported people with visual impairment around the world as part of its efforts to create a truly inclusive society.

Our campaign started in 1989 with the establishment of an international scholarship endowment at the Overbrook School for the Blind based in Philadelphia in the United States. In 1998, that initial endowment was supplemented by a second that created the “Overbrook-Nippon Network on Educational Technology” (ON-NET), a regionally based program working with blind youth in the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This was followed in 2006 by a joint initiative with the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) that has provided support resulting in greatly expanded access to inclusive higher education, largely in the ASEAN region.

This journey of over 30 years to support blind and partially sighted people not only in Southeast Asia but throughout the world is depicted in a recently launched book. PARTNERSHIPS FOR CHANGE: National Strategies --Regional Collaboration illustrates many “lessons learned” over the past three decades on how to identify impediments, develop sustainable solutions and create an environment for cross-border collaboration that will allow the changes being achieved to continue.

In addition, the book, available both on paper and online, has incorporated many personal stories of persons with visual impairment, including those who received higher education and continue to lead the way in creating more inclusive communities that leave no one behind.

The text is supplemented by 53 embedded videos that provide the reader with the opportunity to “meet” many of the young blind individuals who have led the way in creating the partnerships and the changes achieved. It is possible for the visually impaired to access the content of the book.

I hope that all who read this book will learn from it and share it with others that are pursuing similar efforts to improve the education and employment outcomes of persons with visual impairment in their respective countries.

During the World Blindness Summit 2021 held in Madrid, Spain, from June 28 to 30, a reception was held to mark the launch of the book in the presence of its authors－Dr. Larry Campbell, special advisor to ICEVI, Dr. M.N.G. Mani, CEO of ICEVI, and Ms. Wenru Niu, Program officer of ON-NET－and other distinguished guests.

My video message for the launch ceremony can be seen on The Nippon Foundation YouTube channel.

A transcript is available here.

If you are interested, the book is available here.