In the years to come our focus will be on collaborations with governments and social organizations striving for the following:
In the change project ‘NLR 2020’, we are working towards converting our regional offices into strong, independent local NGOs that collaborate with NLR in an international network. This should help them generate increasing local involvement and direct funding (from governments, institutional donors and companies) at both local and international levels. Within the network we will continue to work with each other on information and expertise exchange, increasing the effectiveness of our programs, and research and innovation.
We need to continue to raise sufficient financial support. In 2015 we invested in training our regional offices to improve their institutional fundraising. Based on an operational audit, we carried out quality improvements via our regional offices in India and Brazil. In 2016 a great deal of attention will be focused on the greatest risks attached to our work: a shortage of funds and staff security.
Our lobbying and advocacy is geared to keeping the interests of people affected by leprosy and persons with disabilities high on the agenda of governments and other stakeholders. In 2015 several successes were reported. In Indonesia a successful lobby by a local Disabled People’s Organization (DPO) in Tegal District made the district government agree to improve access to government buildings for people with disabilities. In Mozambique the government has re-appointed a National Coordinator on Leprosy. In the Netherlands, together with the other members of the Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD), we successfully lobbied for more attention to be paid in development policy to the implications of the approaching ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Handicap (UNCRPD). In 2016 we will continue to actively advocate for the removal of barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from fully participating in development and aid projects and in society as a whole.
NLR and its partners will strive to realise Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: in 2030 the number of people needing treatment and support due to neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) will be reduced by 90%.
In the coming years NLR will primarily focus on the following:
NLR has, from its start in 1967, been able to count on the loyal support of donors. In the coming 5 years, this support will be an essential basis for our efforts to strive for a world in which the battle against leprosy has ensured that the disease no longer destroys lives by causing disabilities. We will work towards this in the coming years by supplementing these funds with those raised by our independent regional offices from international donors and local governments, donor organizations and companies.