About Us

About Us

The Palestine Association of Visually Impaired Persons (PAVIP) is an independent Palestinian association established in 2018. It works to serve visually impaired individuals, their families, and those concerned with their issues and rights in all governorates of the country.

PAVIP is a member of:

  1. The World Council for the Education of Visually Impaired Persons (ICEVI).
  2. the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC).
  3. The Palestinian Community Organizations Network.

Visually impaired persons in Palestine

According to official studies and research, visually impaired persons in Palestine make up 0.6% of the total population, which amounts to at least 30,000 people. Unfortunately, they tend to suffer more from poverty, unemployment, and marginalization compared to their sighted peers. They encounter numerous challenges in accessing sources of knowledge, transportation services, vocational training, employment opportunities, sports, entertainment, cultural participation, telecommunications, and internet services, as well as other community and service resources that are easily accessible to other citizens. Additionally, they face social challenges such as social attitudes, dominant culture, and the way members of society deal with them based on sympathy. Their suffering is exacerbated by the lack of awareness-raising and psychosocial support programs and the difficulty in accessing sources of knowledge, culture, educational opportunities, employment, and active participation in various aspects of life.

Vision

 The association's vision is to make Palestine an inclusive state whose citizens, including visually impaired persons, are entitled to justice, decent living, and full citizenship.

Mission

The Association's mission is to ensure the equal rights of visually impaired persons in all aspects of political, economic, social, and cultural life. This includes ensuring their rights to education, employment, family formation, sports, freedom of movement, mobility, public office, access to adequate health and rehabilitation services, access to and use of services' facilities and resources, transport, communications, sources of knowledge, and modern technologies.

The Association uses appropriate strategies and interventions that include but are not limited to, empowerment, awareness-raising, networking, advocacy, mobilization, lobbying, provision of rehabilitation services, training, legal and technical support, and the removal of physical, social, and legislative constraints. It also participates in the development of the legislative system, formulating policies, developing procedures and regulations, supporting the adoption of administrative, judicial, and legislative measures in their various forms, establishing a social model, a rights orientation, and a development orientation to create an inclusive environment that does not exclude any citizens, including visually impaired persons.

The Association works to build the capacity and empowerment of visually impaired persons and to provide psychosocial and legal support to those who need it. It endeavors to enable them to live well and to raise awareness of their rights and duties as citizens with the same rights and duties as other members of society. PAVIP uses the media and coordinates with national governmental, civil, and private institutions. It works to pressure and coordinate with the executive authorities, especially ministries and municipal councils, to place them in front of their responsibilities and to reduce the shortcomings and neglect of the rights of visually impaired persons.

The Association also works to recruit voluntary and material human resources from national and international sources to continue its work in the service of visually impaired persons.

Principles

PAVIP believes in human rights principles as a basis for equality, the rule of law, equal opportunities, justice, and integrity in the institution. The Association provides its services to visually impaired persons without discrimination on any grounds, including sex, religion, political or social affiliation, economic status, age, or any other condition. The Association also believes in cooperation and partnership between the public, private, and community sectors to ensure that visually impaired persons have access to their rights and services in all spheres of life.

Objectives:

The main aims of PAVIP are

1. Encourage the involvement of individuals who are visually impaired in social, economic, political, and cultural activities.

2. Empower visually impaired persons by ensuring their access to necessary services and rights, such as education, healthcare, rehabilitation, assistive technology, recreational activities, vocational training, employment opportunities, communication services, independent living support, counseling, and social and legal assistance.

3. Adopt a dedicated social model, which prioritizes the rights and development of visually impaired persons, thereby creating an inclusive environment where they can access decent living opportunities.

4. Create awareness among society, decision-makers, and families regarding the challenges and rights of visually impaired persons, the violations they may face, and their effective role in eliminating these obstacles.

5. Represent visually impaired persons nationally and internationally and promote their involvement in relevant national, Arab, and international institutions and organizations.

Projects implemented:

Despite its relatively short duration, the Palestine Assembly has undertaken several initiatives and projects affecting the lives of persons with disabilities in general, and visually impaired persons in particular.

The Association's most important projects over the past two years include:

First, the capacity-building project for the production of accessible books with the support of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The project aimed to enhance the Society's capacity to produce accessible books for individuals with reading difficulties. During the project, eight volunteers and staff from universities, ministries, and national institutions were trained in Braille-based book-production skills and thumbnail and audio-recorded. The project also helped establish the (Sawt Al Dad) Library and Palestine's acquisition of the licensee status for the production of concessional books. The Access to the World Alliance for Accessible Books library, which has 900,000 books, was also acquired during the project. The Association built partnerships with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Retired Teachers' Committee, the Experiences Forum, the Success University, and Open Jerusalem.

Secondly, the Association established the first specialized studio for the recording and production of concessional books with the support of the Palestine Development Foundation.

Furthermore, the Italian Adocaide Foundation supported the project "Protecting Our Rights," which aimed to consolidate the efforts of disabled persons' organizations and empower them to defend their rights by promoting their right to inclusive higher education. The project seeks to transform the university environment into an appropriate institutional, physical, and social environment for students with disabilities, particularly for blind and visually impaired students.