EFA-VI News

1. The Global Task Force of the EFA-VI Campaign met five times since July 2006.
2. The Campaign is being implemented in 9 focus countries, namely Ecuador, Fiji, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Paraguay, The Dominican Republic, and Vietnam.
3. Mr. Bernard Mogesa assumed charge as the Regional Coordinator on 5th January 2009 for the implementation of the EFA-VI campaign in the Africa region. The Regional Secretariat functions at the premises of the African Union of the Blind (AFUB) in Nairobi, Kenya.
4. Ethiopia and Mozambique have been selected as the focus countries in the Africa region and preliminary work has started. With these two countries, the focus countries of the EFA-VI Campaign will be 11.
5. The year 2008 was marked by advocacy activities to create a demand for education. Teachers, parents, policy planners, and persons with disabilities were involved in making the campaign national movements.
6. In Vietnam over 13,000 additional children with visual impairment were enrolled in general schools and about 3,800 general classroom teachers were trained in the last two years.
7. In Dominican Republic 70 additional children with visual impairment were admitted to schools.
8. In Paraguay, 249 additional children with visual impairment got access to education in regular schools.
9. All focus countries in the Latin America region have pledged to increase the access to education of children with visual impairment by at least 70% by the end of 2010.
10. In India, the EFA-VI activities were sensitised to government officials, voluntary organisations, and general teachers in 12 States.
11. A situational analysis research has been initiated in China to find out factors contributing to inclusive education.
12. Leading world bodies such as the Asian Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness, CBM, Light for the World, New York Institute for Special Education, Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted, ONCE, Perkins School for the Blind, Sight Savers International, Visio, and Vision Australia are supporting the campaign.
13. The EFA-VI Global campaign has been endorsed by the African Decade as its official programme to increase educational opportunities for children with visual impairment.
14. The EFA-VI Global Campaign enjoys the support of UNESCO and UNICEF.
15. ICEVI has initiated establishing a Resource Centre at the Hong Kong Society for the Blind for the procurement and distribution of high quality low-cost assistive devices.