MAIN ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY ONCE AND ITS FOUNDATION AT
INTERNATIONAL LEVEL DURING 2014
1. Introduction
Again in 2014, the European Union remained the geographical priority area
for the international action of ONCE and its Foundation. This area, in its
entirety and diversity, acquired a special relevance in the defence of the
organisation’s institutional, social and socio-business interests. However, in line
with a strategy initiated in the past, the European financial crisis and the
recession that has followed have served to diversify more intensively the
presence and participation of the institution in other regions of the world,
especially in Latin America and Northern Africa, where until very recently our
activity was prominently focused on development cooperation.
All this was made possible thanks to the presence and participation of
ONCE and its Foundation in more than 40 international organisations and
platforms, not only in the field of blindness and disability, but also in other areas
related to the socio-business context and reality of the organisation, with very
prominent positions of our representatives.
In spite of the European Institutions’ renewal following the European
elections which took place in May and the subsequent decrease in activities of
the Parliament and the Commission, clearly reflected in the intensity of the
European Union’s political agenda, matters addressed this year in the areas of
gambling, social policy, financial perspectives, socio-business initiatives and
international cooperation, have strengthened and consolidated the different
issues addressed by the organisation’s international field of action, thanks to an
orderly and planned performance of a good number of actors who, from the
different executive departments concerned –within ONCE’s General Council,
General Directorate, or the ONCE Foundation-, have played a key role in the
progress and achievements made. Furthermore, these actions have been
complemented with the overall assessment of the disability sector for the 20092014 5-year period, compiled in an informative document available in English
and Spanish, and with ONCE General Council’s approval of the European
Strategy of ONCE and its Foundation for the 2014-2019 period.
In the course of this year, many international actors have visited us,
interested in getting to know the model of ONCE and its Foundation and many
high level encounters took place with relevant authorities and institutions from
the international arena, such as the meeting with the Vice President of
Colombia on 4 March.
Likewise, special efforts were made to spread the organisation’s
international activities within the different Spanish autonomous communities,
with the close cooperation of the respective Territorial Councils of ONCE.
On the other hand, it is important to mention the celebration of the 2 nd
International Congress on University and Disability, organised by the ONCE
Foundation for Cooperation and Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities on
27 and 28 November in Madrid, which turned into an international meeting
forum for universities and the disability world and could be followed in English
and Spanish on the Internet. A few days before that event, the International
Exhibition of Assistive Technology for People with Visual Disabilities
(TIFLOINNOVA 2014) took place, organised by the ONCE Centre for Research,
Development and Implementation of Technologies for the Blind (CIDAT).
2. Gambling
In general terms, we can say that the international activities in this sector
have focused, on one hand, on the active follow-up of policies carried out or
negotiated in the area of gambling under the European Union Presidencies of
Greece and Lithuania, coinciding with the end and renewal of European
Institutions mandates; on the other hand, on the development of already
existing business initiatives already existing in the international sphere or at
assessment and analysis stage; and, finally, on the activities derived from our
own active participation in international lottery organisations and platforms in
which ONCE belongs.
As relevant activity in this field, it is worth mentioning in particular the signing
of the addendum to the cooperation agreement between European Lotteries
(EL) and the European Disability Forum (EDF), in the course of the meeting on
10 October at ONCE General Council Headquarters of the Presidents of both
institutions, who showed their commitment towards moving forward in the
implementation at European level of the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities. With this addendum, both institutions requested their
respective members to show their interest for the development of a European
pilot project, which will focus on employment and training of people with
disabilities and/or on increasing social awareness-raising on disability, based on
transferable successful national experiences. This will have the technical
assistance of ONCE and its Foundation.
3. Social policies
Through the close follow-up, the planning, development and actions of a
lobbying strategy, coordinated between ONCE, its Foundation and the Spanish
Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI), in
cooperation with the European Disability Forum, the European Economic and
Social Committee, and also through bilateral contacts with MEPs and senior
officials of the European Commission, we have tried to make progress in
initiatives and commitments undertaken for our sector in the Agenda 2020. It
has been an arduous and complicated challenge given the General Elections
process in the European Parliament on 25 May 2014. To that end, ONCE and
its Foundation continued applying a twin-track approach, paying special
attention to initiatives related to disability (non-discrimination, employment,
accessibility, etc.), and also to initiatives related to social economy (European
statutes for associations, social services of general interest, state aid, etc.).
All this has been expressed directly through drafting of positions and
concrete responses to consultations launched this year by the European
Commission, in a significantly smaller number due to the renewal process in the
European Institutions. In spite of this, our priorities have been to get off the
ground the European Accessibility Act, outstanding since 2010; the ratification
by the European Union of the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty; the regulation of silent
cars; the revision of air transport and public procurement.
The publication in June of the report by the European Union on the
implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
deserves a special mention. It will be examined by the Convention’s
International Monitoring Committee in its 13th and 14th sessions, which will take
place in Geneva in April and August 2015, respectively.
4. Financial perspectives
The ONCE Foundation has followed closely national negotiations on the
Rules that will control the spending of the 325 million Euros from the
Community budget for Structural and Investment Funds corresponding to the
2014-2020 period, making sure that they include social aspects.
5. International cooperation
FOAL is our organisation’s flagship with regard to international cooperation.
This year, it has continued designing and implementing inclusive education and
training and employment programmes for blind people in Latin America, as well
as co-financing many projects geared towards achieving their full inclusion and
citizenship in their respective countries. Furthermore, in 2014 FOAL has
initiated its international volunteer campaign (“Looking for Helping Hands”) and
its campaign for a bank of optical aids and typhlotechnical materials (“Become a
FOAL donor”), involving this way the joint participation of the organisation’s
members and workers in this important international cooperation commitment.
All these efforts have allowed ONCE, through FOAL, to remain being a
model for international development cooperation in the field of disability, as well
as an example of solidarity efforts for other institutions carrying out cooperation
work in other regions of the world.
Within its general scope of action, in 2014 FOAL has continued working on
programmes focused on educational inclusion, professional training and
employment, taking into consideration the need for decentralisation of
resources, gender equality and direct intervention in rural areas, from the
specificities of each country and with the direct participation of the beneficiaries,
through their representative organisations.
All these activities in the field of international cooperation in Latin America
have been complemented with our organisation’s long-lasting support to other
blind people in different regions of the world. In this sense, cooperation has
continued with the Association of Blind and Partially People in Portugal
(ACAPO), through the granting of training, board and lodging grants to two
students at the ONCE School of Physiotherapy. A training seminar on
employment of blind people has also been organised for ACAPO’s technical
staff. In any case, the most relevant cooperation activity with ACAPO has been
the co-financing granted for the setting-up of the Union of Portuguese-Speaking
Blind People, which was launched with the presence of the Presidents of blind
associations from the countries concerned: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and East Timor.
Finally, blind children in Saharan Refugee Camps in Tinduf, Algeria continue
being beneficiaries of our international cooperation, they are distributed
between the five specific schools, one for each refugee camp (Smara,
Aousserd, El Aioun, 27th of February and Dakhla), thanks to the selfless work
of professionals from the ONCE Educational Resource Centre in Catalonia. To
this end, this year’s support materialized in the shape of training of local
professionals, donation of special material and some financial support for
project coordination at local level. Thanks to all these efforts, school
attendance of blind children in the region is much higher than that of their
sighted peers.
Lastly, in 2014 support has been given also to organisations of the blind in
the Balkans, in the shape of training of professionals and technical assessment
in the areas they requested.