Effective Partnerships between "of" and "for" organizations

Stephen King

President, DAISY Consortium

Director International Affairs RNIB

Effective Partnerships between "of" and "for" organizations

• Speak for 10 minutes

• Concrete example

• DAISY Consortium• Global partnership

• Partner with WBU on "Right to Read"

• Solving book & news famine

What I'll say• Who are the DAISY Consortium

• What do we do?

• How do we cooperate with WBU– To help deliver Right to Read

• Our work with Educators– To help deliver right to education materials

• What can we learn from partnership

Who are the DAISY Consortium?• Consortium of organisations "for" and "of"

organisations + business & governments• Committed to end the book famine for print disabled• 93 Not for Profit organisations serving people with

print disabilities + Friends• Blind, dyslexic & other print disability

• Worldwide Membership • 50+ Countries US, Latin America, EU, Africa, India, Asia

• All continents (Bar Antarctica) (We do have Iceland !)

Who are the DAISY Consortium?

• Organisations "of" on the board– NFB, ONCE, RNZFB, RNIB– WBU has official observer status

• 16 other full (NFP) members on board– NOTA, LOC, Japan DC, NILD Korea etc

• 46 Associate Members: Service providers• 33 Friends (Business & educators)

What do we do?• The DAISY Consortium is a global

consortium of organizations committed to a common vision and mission, which pools and coordinates resources to deliver global change.

• We work towards creating the best way to read and publish.

What do we do?Vision• People have equal access to information and knowledge

regardless of disability; a right confirmed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Mission• Work to create the best way to read and publish, for everybody,

in the 21st Century• Foster a global partnership between civil society, publishing and

technology industries, standards bodies and governments that builds a more effective solution, for everyone.

Towards the Right to Read• Developed a better way to read

• Developed great DAISY reading experience– Reader is in control, navigates like everyone else

• Used in 50 countries. WBU papers in DAISY

• Now focused on the best way to publish• For everyone; not just print disabled• Work with mainstream publishers on e-books• EPUB 3 standard for e-books• Blind people in control of how the world reads in

21st century

Partnership working to deliver Right to Read• Support WBU on WIPO treaty

– Legal basis for sharing materials worldwide• Joint project with IFLA to develop technical

and business arrangements for sharing materials: TIGAR network

• Plus Bookshare (Full Member) alternative

• Working with publishers to develop inclusive publishing for 21st Century

Partnership with Educators• Projects to publish & read maths,

diagrams and other complex materials

• Special membership for educators

• Work specifically with educational publishers

• TIGAR network & Bookshare focus on education support to share resources

What have we learned?• Partnership works!• Everyone brings & gains something

• Political voice (Orgs of)• Influence (Govt & strong country orgs)• Resources of money, expertise & technology

• A common agreed goal is essential• Right to read & delivering UNCRPD

• Legal framework really helps: UNCRPD

What have we learned?• We have lots to change in the world• We have

– Shared vision on rights– Legal framework in CRPD– Ingenuity of blind people solving problems– Expertise and resource rich friends

• Divided we fail, together we can change the world.

Hard learning• Some partnership needs to be explicit

– Documented goals and ways of working– Transparent governance arrangements– Cash on the table with accountability

• Loose partnership is possible but risky– Depends on good leadership who get on– Maintain regular clear communications

Effective Partnerships between "of" and "for" organizations• We have shown its possible

• Including wider civil society– Business, educators– Wider NGO: EG Dyslexia, technology etc

• We have lots to change in the world– Divided we will fail– Working together we can change the world

Effective Partnerships between "of" and "for" organizations

Stephen King

President, DAISY ConsortiumPresident@daisy.org

Director International Affairs RNIBStephen.King@RNIB.Org.UK