Reflecting on 2019 by Standing Voice
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Reflecting on 2019

Thank You

Standing Voice
By Standing Voice

2019 has been a special time for Standing Voice.

In a year that has marked our sixth anniversary, it’s been extraordinary to reflect on the impact we’ve made, and humbling to think about the support we’ve received.

As you read this, our teams are hard at work in the field, touring the breadth of Tanzania and Malawi with our life-changing services. Our health programmes are helping thousands of patients to take charge of their welfare, while our education scholarships are giving dozens of vulnerable children the tools to rewrite their futures. Our advocacy campaigns continue to ignite change on a spectrum of levels: reshaping attitudes to albinism in the most remote towns and villages; but also reaching global institutions like the United Nations, and contributing to an international conversation around albinism and human rights. 


Photo by Harry Freeland

Photo by Harry Freeland

This year we’ve watched our Skin Cancer Prevention Programme blossom into a powerful mechanism of change. In its infancy, the programme was serving only three locations in Mwanza city; it’s now reaching over 6,000 people with albinism at 65 clinical sites across Tanzania and Malawi. In Tanzania, over a third of the national population of people with albinism are registered. Across both countries, rates of skin cancer are falling and patient compliance is rising.

Photo by Harry Freeland

Photo by Harry Freeland

Photo by Elizabeth Wayne

Photo by Elizabeth Wayne

Photo by Elizabeth Wayne

Photo by Elizabeth Wayne

Photos by Elizabeth Wayne

Our Vision Programme has grown too, and now reaches over 3,000 people with albinism in 9 regions of Tanzania with a comprehensive package of eye care and education. Truly remarkable this year has been our acceleration in optometric and teacher training: we have continued to train optometrists, while also engaging 121 teachers across 12 schools to promote inclusive education practices.

This year we were proud to deliver our third annual Summer Skills Workshop: an integrated training programme, based at our Umoja Training Centre on Ukerewe Island, helping a deeply marginalised community to learn new skills and develop its income-generating capacity. We brought together renowned artists, actors, researchers, broadcasters, photographers, tailors and musicians, and connected these professionals to people with albinism and their peers. Over a period of three weeks, 146 participants were trained across eight workshop disciplines. Some of these made international headlines!

Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Harry Freeland

Photo by Harry Freeland

Photo by Jim Fisher

Photo by Jim Fisher

Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Brian Benson

This year we have pushed beyond national borders to demand greater accountability for the welfare of people with albinism across Africa and the world. Working in Tanzania, Malawi and the UK—but also France, South Africa, Geneva and New York—we have deepened our engagement with a number of governments, and worked more closely than ever with the United Nations to pool intelligence on current human rights abuses and issue recommendations for their future prevention. Years of advocacy have culminated in 2019 in the development of a National Action Plan (NAP) on Albinism: a five-year framework intended to empower persons with albinism, commissioned by the Government of Tanzania and developed by a network of participating organisations under the leadership of Standing Voice. We are poised and ready to harness this growing momentum and fight for the rights of people with albinism across the globe.

Photos by Harry Freeland

Photos by Harry Freeland

This progress would be impossible without the ongoing commitment of our supporters. Without you, thousands of people with albinism would lose the lifeline our charity provides. Our deepest thanks to every person who has dug deep in their pockets to support us this year; to the brave individuals performing incredible feats of endurance to raise funds and awareness for our work; and to the growing army of volunteers, who travel from across the world to support our projects on the ground each year. Only last week, we were overwhelmed and humbled by the extraordinary response to our Christmas campaign, which raised £136,000 in just seven days.

As we look back on 2019 and ahead to 2020, we thank every partner, supporter and beneficiary. Together, we’re building a brighter future for people with albinism everywhere.


With our warmest wishes for the festive period,

The Standing Voice Team


Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Brian Benson

Photo by Elizabeth Wayne

Photo by Elizabeth Wayne


© 2025 Standing Voice

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