World Federation of the Deafblind General Assembly – WFDB GA

1st and founding General Assembly

The decision to form a world federation of the deafblind was made at the 6th Helen Keller World Conference in Paipa, Colombia, September 13 – 19, 1997. After many years of work, the conference delegates considered that time was ripe to take the step to found the World Federation of the Deafblind, WFDB. The conference appointed a committee that would prepare the first and founding general assembly of WFDB, which was to be held in connection with the 7th Helen Keller Conference in Auckland, New Zealand, in October 2001. An executive council was elected with Stig Ohlson (Sweden) as President; Daniel Alvarez-Reyes (Spain) as Vice-President; Lex Grandia (Denmark) as Secretary General and Jeffrey Bohrman (USA) as Treasurer. In addition, six regional representatives were elected to represent their respective regions.

Election Committee members 1997

List of the Provisional Committee for the period 1997 – 2001.

Elected at the 6th Helen Keller World Conference, Paipa , Colombia, 13–19 October 1997.

Provisional Committee

Acting Chairman of the committee: Stig Ohlson, Sweden

Acting Vice Chairman of the committee: Roderick McDonald, USA

Editor of the Newsletter for the deafblind: Lex Grandia, Denmark

Member: Daniel Álvarez Reyes, Spain

Member: André van Deventer, South Africa

Member: Irene McMinn, Australia

Member: Yolanda de Rodríguez, Colombia

Member: Jane Erikson, Sweden

Election Committee for the 1st GA 2001

Chairman: Jan Jakes, Czech Republic

Member: André van Deventer, South Africa

Member: Jan Scahill, New Zealand

List of EC-members, auditors and election committee members for the period 2001 – 2005.

Elected by WFDB’s 1st General Assembly, Auckland, New Zealand, 11 – 12 October 2001

Executive Council

President: Stig Ohlson, Sweden

Vice President: Daniel Alvarez Reyes, Spain

Secretary General: Lex Grandia, Denmark

Treasurer: Jeffrey S. Bohrmann, USA                   

Regional representatives                                

Africa: David Shaba, Tanzania

Asia: Satoshi Fukushima, Japan

Europa: Sanja Tarczay, Croatia

Latin America: Sonnia Margarita Villacrés, Ecuador

North America: Craig McClean, USA

Pacific region: Sven Topp, Australia

Auditors

Jozef Mendrun, Poland

Robbie Van Eck, South Africa

WFDB 2nd General Assembly

WFDB 2nd General Assembly was held in Tampere, Finland, in June 2005. There were 36 voting members present from five of the six regions.

Election Committee for the 2nd GA 2005              

Chairman: Jan Jakes, Czech Republic

Member: André van Deventer, South Africa

Member: Jan Scahill, New Zealand

List of EC-members, auditors and election committee members for the period 2005 – 2009.

Elected by WFDB’s 2nd General Assembly, Tampere, Finland, 5 – 7 June 2005.

Executive Council

President: Lex Grandia, Denmark

Vice President: Sonnia Margarita Villacrés, Ecuador

Secretary General: André van Deventer, South Africa

Treasurer:

2005-2006: Gunborg Lindström, Sweden

2006-2007: Stig Ohlson, Sweden

From March 2008: Christer Nilsson, Sweden

Regional Representatives

Africa: David Shaba, Tanzania

Asia: Satoshi Fukushima, Japan

Europe: Sanja Tarczay, Croatia

Latin America: Beatriz Vallejo, Colombia

North America: Jeffrey Bohrman, United States of America

Pacific region: Jan Scahill, New Zealand, passed away in 18 July 2006 and replaced by Irene McMinn, Australia, from December 2007

Auditors                             

Geir Jensen, Norway

Robbie Van Eck, South Africa

WFDB 3rd General Assembly

WFDB 3rd General Assembly was held in Munyonyo, Uganda in October 2009. There were 42 voting members present from five of the six regions.

Election Committee for the 3rd GA 2009

Chairman: Dimitar Parapanov, Bulgaria

Member: José Llong, Peru

Member: Jan Jakes, Czech Republic

List of EC-members, auditors and election committee members for the period 2009 – 2013.

Elected by WFDB’s 3rd General Assembly, Munyonyo, Uganda, 26 – 27 October 2009.

Executive Council

President: Lex Grandia, Denmark, died in 19 April 2012

From May 2012: Sonnia Margarita Villacrés, Ecuador

Vice President: Sonnia Margarita Villacrés, Ecuador

Secretary General: Geir Jensen, Norway

Treasurer: Christer Nilsson, Sweden

Regional Representatives

Africa: Ezekiel Kumwenda, Malawi

Asia: Satoshi Fukushima, Japan

Europa: Sanja Tarczay, Croatia

Latin America: Alejandra Carranza, Argentina

North America: Jeffrey Bohrman, United States of America

Pacific region: Irene McMinn, Australia

Auditors                                               

Dimitar Parapanov, Bulgaria

Agnes Abukito, Uganda

WFDB 4th General Assembly

WFDB 4th General Assembly was held in Tagaytay, Philippines 10-11 of November 2013. There were 31 voting members present from five of the six regions.

Election Committee for the 4th GA 2013               

Chairman: Riku Virtanen, Finland

Member: David Shaba, Tanzania

Member: Myriam Torres, Venezuela

List of EC-members, auditors and election committee members for the period 2013 – 2018.

Elected by WFDB’s 4th General Assembly, Tagaytay, Philippines, 10 – 11 October 2013.

Executive Council

President: Geir Jensen, Norway

Vice President: Sonnia Margarita Villacrés, Ecuador

Secretary General: Akiko Fukada, Japan

Treasurer: Christer Nilsson, Sweden

Regional Representatives

Africa: Ezekiel Kumwenda, Malawi

Asia: Satoshi Fukushima, Japan

Europa: Riku Virtanen, Finland

Latin America: Carlos Rodrigues, Brazil

North America: Christopher Woodfill, United States of America

Pacific region: Irene McMinn, Australia

Auditors

Dimitar Parapanov, Bulgaria

Agnes Abukito, Uganda

WFDB 5th General Assembly

WFDB’s 5th General Assembly was held in Benidorm, Spain 20-27 June 2018. 526 participants from 50 countries attended the conference. The Spanish national deafblind organization, FASOCIDE, arranged much of the practical details around the conference. They also arranged one day, the 27^th of June, to celebrate Deafblind day with a visit of Queen Letizia of Spain. She delivered an interesting speech to the participants and also had a meeting with the officers at WFDB with discussions and information about deafblindness.

Election Committee for the 5th GA 2018

Chairman: Francisco Molina Trigueros, Spain

Member: David Shaba, Tanzania

Member: San San Dah, Ivory Coast

List of EC-members, regional representatives, auditors and election committee members for the period 2018 – 2022.

Elected by WFDB’s 5^th General Assembly, Benidorm, Spain, 20 – 22 June 2018.

Executive Council

President: Geir Jensen, Norway

Vice President: Klas Nelfelt, Sweden

Member: Sonnia Margarita Villacres, Ecuador

Member: Irene McMinn, Australia

Member: Puspa Raj Rimal, Nepal

Regional Representatives

Africa: Juliet Wabukawo, Uganda

Asia: Satoshi Fukushima, Japan

Europa: Riku Virtanen, Finland

Latin America: Samuel Valencia, Colombia

North America: Christopher Woodfill, United States of America

Pacific region: David Murray, Australia

Auditors

Eulalia Cordeiro, Brazil

Francisco Trigueros, Spain

WFDB 6th General Assembly