Twitter | @LFTWBE

Dr Jean-Marie Ngbenga Gerewoyo is the Programme Coordinator at the National Office of Light for the World in DR Congo since 2015.  A doctor by training and holder of a Master's degree in Public Health, he has solid experience in programme coordination and management, as well as representation for having worked for Congolese state institutions and several international NGOs.

Indeed, Dr Ngbenga worked for several years as a general practitioner and then as a hospital director in three different provinces of the DRC (Kongo-Central, Kinshasa and North Ubangi). During his professional and family life, he was confronted with the problem of blindness: the hospitals of Kimpese, in Kongo-Central, and Karawa, in South-Ubangi, have important eye health units in which Dr Ngbenga worked. In addition, two of his great uncles spent the second half of their lives blinded by cataract.

With his team in Lubumbashi, Dr Ngbenga is pursuing the following Strategic Objectives, assigned by Light for the World in the South of DR Congo:

• Contribute to better prevention of blindness by promoting holistic and sustainable eye care
• Promote the "Inclusive Education" approach for children with visual impairment and support special education for blind children.

With specific regard to inclusive education, Dr Ngbenga's current challenge is to consolidate the Light for the World pilot project in this field and ensure it is scaling up throughout the southern region of the DRC.