As we look back on 2025, we’re excited to share some of the year’s highlights.
To celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas, we’re delighted to bring you 12 inspiring stories that showcase the incredible achievements made possible through the dedication of our partners and the generosity of our supporters.
In January, it marked 25 years of the BasicNeeds Model, a community-based approach for delivering mental health care. Tried and tested over a quarter of a century, it recognises that people with mental health conditions need more than just treatment to thrive and is a vital part of many CBM projects. It puts mental health care in the hands of communities, individuals and health systems to reduce stigma, embed mental health care in local services, and provide access to meaningful work.
In February, we were proud to celebrate the success of our See the Way Malawi project. In 2020, our supporters donated an amazing £1,320,921 for people in Malawi to See the Way to a brighter future. Every pound was then matched by the UK government through the UK Aid Match scheme. This funding delivered a three-year project to improve access to eye health services in rural districts in Malawi.
Together with our partners MANEPO (Malawi Network for Elderly Persons Organisations) and the Nkhoma Eye Programme, we delivered 6,652 cataract surgeries and provided outpatient services to a staggering 166,186 people at 10 district hospitals.
In March, we launched a new project with our partner IcFEM in Bungoma County, Kenya, which making it easier to diagnose, refer, and treat people with sight loss. In August, a team visited the project and met Benedetta, who had been identified by a Community Health Volunteer as needing urgent cataract surgery. With support from CBM UK donors, she was able to have both eyes operated on in May this year – free of charge.
Now Benedetta can farm again, care for her grandchildren, and attend church services without needing someone to guide her. Most importantly, she can once again see the faces of her family. “It was so embarrassing not to recognise my own daughter,” she said. “Now I feel very happy that I am able to see.”
In April, we were proud to celebrate the launch of our Financial Autonomy of persons with Disabilities through Agriculture (FAIDA) project – a four-year initiative aimed at enhancing financial inclusion for people with disabilities in Chitwan District, Nepal.
This project, made possible through funding from Jersey Overseas Aid, seeks to break down barriers in accessing financial services, enabling people with disabilities to build sustainable livelihoods and strengthen their resilience to climate-related challenges.
In May, CBM UK continued to drive forward its World in Focus campaign to highlight the urgent need to address the 1.1 billion people worldwide living with sight loss. The campaign culminated in an event at the University of Cambridge that brought together supporters to reflect and be inspired by stories from our global eye care programmes. It highlighted the urgent need for accessible eye care and shared hope through CBM’s work in countries like Nigeria and Nepal. It was also a chance to celebrate the campaign raising £435,000!
In June, CBM UK proudly announced that our Chief Executive, Kirsty Smith, was awarded an OBE in the King’s Birthday Honours for her outstanding services to people living with disabilities overseas. This honour recognises Kirsty’s 25 years of dedication to international development and her leadership in promoting disability inclusion and accessible healthcare in some of the world’s most marginalised communities.
In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that Burundi had become the eighth African country to officially eliminate trachoma as a public health problem. Trachoma – a painful and potentially blinding eye infection – is one of the world’s leading neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Eliminating it was the result of 20 years of coordinated effort, which CBM UK supported through our long-standing partnerships with Burundi’s Ministry of Health, WHO, the END Fund, and the International Trachoma Initiative.
In August, we were proud to launch our Inclusion Matters campaign, inviting supporters to share what inclusion means to them. Our ambassador Anne Wafula Strike MBE, Paralympian and disability activist, endorsed the campaign, saying: “To me, inclusion means ensuring everyone has the same opportunities and rights, and dignity, and are able to access resources and services. Inclusion means belonging regardless of background or identity.” At CBM UK, inclusion is at the heart of everything we do. When we include people with disabilities, we build stronger, more innovative, and compassionate communities where everyone can thrive.
On World Sight Day in October, Peter and Gill Godber celebrated twenty years of volunteering for CBM UK with an event called ‘Love Your Eyes’ in Cambridge. The afternoon tea party featured music from an award-winning local pianist and a raffle with prizes donated by over 20 local businesses. It raised over £500 to support CBM’s life-changing work to prevent blindness and was a testament to the efforts of a very special couple who have spent two decades advocating for CBM UK.
In November, we were delighted that the CBM UK-supported SAGE project was recognised with a Times Higher Education Award. Our project partner, The Open University, collected the International Collaboration of the Year Award for the development of a community-based, non-formal inclusive education pathway for Zimbabwe’s most marginalised girls.
Funded by UK aid from the UK government, it represents a unique collaboration involving The Open University, Plan International Zimbabwe, CBM UK, Apostolic Women Empowerment Trust, and The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Zimbabwe.
COP30 – the global ‘check in’ on climate change – took place in Belém, Brazil. Colleagues from CBM Ireland and CBM Global attended in person while CBM UK co-organised a side event ‘From Exclusion to Action: Global South Women with Disabilities Leading Inclusive Climate Solutions’. The disability caucus – or group – was officially recognised for the first time at COP, and there was progress on the Just Transition, which is about protecting worker and human rights in the transition to green energies. Decision-making didn’t go far enough, though, and a CBM UK policy paper released in November unpacks both the barriers to action and the levers to speed up progress.
In December, Gyles Brandreth, renowned broadcaster, writer and former MP, lent his passionate support to CBM UK’s Christmas campaign. He urged people across the UK to help transform the lives of children living with avoidable blindness in some of the world’s poorest communities. For over 20 years, Gyles and his wife Michèle have championed our sight-saving work.
Photo credits – Photo 1: ©CBM/Hayduk , Photo 2: ©CBM UK/360 Visuals, Photo 3: ©CBM UK/Plateau Media, Photo 5: ©CBM Australia, Photo 6: ©CBM Global/Eshuchi, Photo 8: ©Alice Freeman.
