Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame wins first ever ‘Women’s Empowerment Award’

Board Member, Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations, Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame

Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame, a Board Member, Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations and the Global Advocacy Advisor (Social Inclusion), at Sightsavers is the recipient of the first-ever ‘Women’s Empowerment Award’ at the 2021 World Blindness Summit.

The ‘Women’s Empowerment Award’ was launched in 2020 by the World Blind Union (WBU) on International Women’s Day and was created to recognize women who are blind or partially sighted who have worked to empower other women.

Announcing the award, the WBU stated:

"Empowering women to participate fully in economic life is essential to build stronger economies and improve the quality of life for women, men, families, and communities. Therefore, the WBU Women’s Committee feels that this award will encourage others to participate more fully.?

World Blindness Summit is a global meeting of about 4000 blind and severely visually impaired individuals from over 190 countries including anyone interested in joining the summit around the world to share experiences, analyze achievements, set priorities, and make visible strategies to ensure that people with visual impairments can participate everywhere. It is a joint summit of the World Blind Union and the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment.

The theme of the 2021 summit is “What it means to be Blind and Visually Impaired”:

The 2021 summit was held online in June with Madrid, Spain as the virtual epicenter.

The summit is held every four years.

Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame was recognized for her long work with the WBU on the rights of women with disabilities (especially in Ghana and Africa), her work on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and her work to support and mentor younger women with disabilities. She was nominated by the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations.

Gertrude is currently, Global Advocacy Advisor for social inclusion at Sightsavers and a Board Member at the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations

A hearty congratulations to Getty.