The IBF Foundation Visually Impaired Support Grant Programme, a new initiative to fund non-sporting activities by organisations supporting the visually impaired, has selected five organisations from four countries as beneficiaries. The application period lasted approximately one month from the beginning of November last year, and 13 applications were received from eight countries. Based on the previously published selection criteria, IBF Foundation members reviewed the applications and five organisations were approved by the Board of Directors.

The key factors to be reviewed were “Who the beneficiaries are”, ”What the problem is”, “How the equipment, tools and services will resolve the difficulties”, and “Expected outcomes”. The difficulties faced by the selected organisations range from educating visually impaired women, the necessity of Braille printers for visually impaired children attending regular schools, providing equipment to assist the visually and hearing impaired, and increasing mobility for visually impaired people living in remote areas. The total maximum budget allocated for each grantee is 2,000 US Dollars, and projects must be finalised before March 15th, 2023.

The IBF Foundation tackles the three “Disabilities” – Impairment, Disability, and Handicap – using the power of Blind Football. We are involved in grant programmes directly related to sport, such as the Let’s Play programmes, but also believe that working more broadly to solve the problems related to the visually impaired is also essential to realise our vision and change society for the better.

We are pleased to announce the list of recipients:

1. Nigeria Association of the Blind, Nigeria.

2. Zanzibar National Association of the Blind, Tanzania.

3. Fundación Luis Braille de Honduras, Honduras.

4. Deafblind Association of Honduras, Honduras.

5. Football Association for the Blind of Bengal, India.