The Christian Blind Mission (CBM) is a Christian humanitarian organization aiming to improve the lives of people with disabilities. It considered one of the world's oldest and largest religious organization serving the blind and disabled.[1] CBM was founded in 1908 by the German pastor Ernst Jakob Christoffel, who built homes for blind children, orphans, physically disabled, and deaf persons in Turkey and Iran.
Initially CBM's efforts were focused on preventing and curing blindness but now cover other causes of disability. CBM also runs education and rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities. CBM, by its declaration, supports more than 1,000 projects in 113 countries, and tends to give related assistance regardless of religion, nationality, race, or gender.[2] It works with different mission agencies, local churches, self-help groups and relief agencies[3] and has (as of 2009) nine member associations in Europe, North America and Oceania. Since 2004 the Austrian member organisation works as an independent organisation LIGHT FOR THE WORLD (LICHT FÜR DIE WELT), 2009 the Belgian organisation followed them and is now also part of Light for the World.[4]
Over the time of its existence, CBM’s policy has developed from serving blind people to giving other people with disabilities access to basic healthcare services. According to conservative estimates, there are 400 million people with disabilities in the world - other figures talk of 600 million people. Most of them live in developing countries. CBM, by its own estimation, covers about 3% (target population of 18 million) of all disabled people with its programmes.