History

The community of albinism associations and NGOs started its development in the late 1970’s and 1980’s.

In 1992, the first attempt to structure and formalize collaborations at the international level was made through the creation of the Albinism World Alliance (AWA). However, this alliance failed to become a sustainable organization and eventually stopped operating at the turn of the century.

At the beginning of the 2010’s, the Albinism Fellowship of Australia, under the initiative of its former Secretary, Dr. Shari Parker, pushed for the creation of a new international alliance for albinism, the World Albinism Alliance (WAA). Although this project seemed very promising and could benefit from the development of the Internet and the possibility to interact at distance in a much easier, faster and cheaper way, it unfortunately did not reach the point of becoming a sustainable operating organization.

In 2019, the former UN Independent Expert on Albinism, Ikponwosa (I.K.) Ero, Michael McGowan (former Executive

Director of the North American albinism organization, NOAH ) and Antoine Gliksohn (International Affairs Officer of the French albinism association – Genespoir) joined forces to attempt the creation of a new global alliance for albinism. In January 2020, they organized in Paris, France an exploratory meeting with 27 representatives of albinism organizations from 23 different countries, representing all regions of the world. On January 28, 2020, the meeting delegates voted unanimously to form an official albinism alliance. They also approved a Pilot Project and nominated a Pilot Team to work on the establishment of this new organization.

Watch here the 7-minute video of the GAA 2020 Paris Exploratory Meeting.

After a 2-year pilot, the Global Albinism Alliance was eventually registered as an official organization on October 11, 2021

OUR VISION

We envision a world where persons with albinism have the best possible quality of life

OUR MISSION

The Global Albinism Aliance exists to...

...help albinism organizations around the world be stronger and more impactful.

...improve knowledge about albinism.

...advocate at the global level to improve the lives of people impacted by albinism.

OUR VALUES

As an organization and a community,
we, the Global Albinism Alliance...

...are inclusive but we acknowledge and respect the diversity that exists within our community.

...believe strongly in the importance of collaboration to harness the collective strengths of all albinism organizations around the world.

...seek to build bridges to realize synergies between different stakeholders who serve persons with albinism.

...maintain and call for open and honest communication with and among albinism organizations.

...stand in solidarity with each other to address the most important inequities faced by persons with albinism around the world.

...ensure that in all our actions we remain informed by the best available evidence.

...we respect our members' time and resources.