The Drs. Richard
Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation scheme was launched
during the world conference in Netherlands in July/ August 2002 with the
ambitious objective of bringing out the hidden potential of blind children
around the world and building the capacity of the teachers to address
the educational needs of these children. The first year of implementation
has been a major learning experience for ICEVI, and the Principal Officers
are continuously assessing the effectiveness of the approaches adopted
by ICEVI in achieving the desired goals.
The vast Africa region has used the opportunities
provided by the Fund to create awareness about the educational needs of
children with visual impairment. Three workshops on teaching mathematics
to blind children were conducted in 2003 creating a heightened awareness
about that subject among teachers from across Africa. Teachers who attended
the workshop in Pretoria stated that their fear of mathematics had disappeared
and that they now felt more confident in teaching the subject to visually
impaired children. Another notable feature of the Fund's first year was
the collaboration it engendered between organizations serving children
with visual impairment. ICEVI, CBM, and Sight Savers have been brought
closer than ever before in the region complementing the services of each
other to facilitate the funded projects. Africa is in the process of developing
a long-term perspective in serving persons with visual impairment and
with the assistance of the Lee Foundation Scheme, the region is concentrating
on Teacher Preparation, The Education of Low Vision Children, Braille
Literacy and Teaching Mathematics as the priority areas for future development.
In short, the first year of the implementation of Lee Foundation scheme
in Africa has facilitated effective collaboration and networking in Africa
- a key strategic goal of ICEVI.
The East Asia region has organized diverse
activities ranging from a Parents' Awareness Programme to the sensitization
of Deans of Colleges about the education of persons with visual impairment.
The region has focused on Parent involvement as a key factor for increasing
the enrolment of children with visual impairment in schools. The Lee Foundation
Scheme was used to fund projects in the Philippines, Indonesia and China
during 2003 and other countries will be covered in 2004. The meeting of
the Deans of Colleges organized in Baguio in August 2003 brought together
nearly 40 Deans from Colleges and they were alerted to the need for developing
an inclusive curriculum that would facilitate higher education for visually
impaired learners. The East Asia region used the Lee Foundation grant
to create awareness about the capabilities of visually impaired children
at every level, another of the goals defined in ICEVI's Strategic Plan.
The Latin America
region is a classic example of how the enhanced sub-regional structure
of ICEVI has proved effective in expanding educational services. The Lee
Foundation Scheme funding was predominantly used for the capacity building
of teachers in four areas namely: early childhood and intervention, the
education of low vision children, the education of visually impaired children
with additional disabilities, and orientation & mobility. The sub-regional
structure is helping the message of ICEVI to percolate to the grass root
level across the continent. It is noteworthy that the region has dispensed
with the concept of Regional Committee meetings in favor of sub-regional
level meetings which have proved a far more practical and effective way
of addressing challenges. Instructionalguidelines for applicants to The
Lee Foundation Scheme have been translated into Spanish and Portuguese
to help promote the program throughout the region. This region again demonstrates
how effectively international organizations such as CBM and ONCE can support
the efforts of ICEVI in building capacity among teachers and other professionals.
The region has already prepared a blue print of action to be supported
by the Lee Foundation Scheme during 2004 and it is confirming the belief
of ICEVI that the strength of the organization lies in itsregional structure
and activities.
The West Asia region has drawn on the support
of the Lee Foundation scheme to focus more on resource development. It
is collaborating with the Rehabilitation Council of India in developing
a handbook on "disability management" for parents of visually
impaired children. The e-text creation, a project supported by the Lee
Foundation in India, is a collaborative initiative aimed at putting hundreds
of books into an electronic text format to provide access for visually
impaired learners. It is also supporting projects in Nepal to make visually
impaired children computer literate in the growing world of information
and communication technology. The region, which contains the largest number
of persons with visual impairment, is trying to encourage international
organizations and Government agencies to work with ICEVI in developing
practices which can be replicated for the vast population.
As we can see, each of the four regions
where the Lee Foundation projects are underway has adopted a unique approach.
Out of the 99 projects approved in 2003, the four regions have completed
79 projects and the remaining will be carried forward to 2004. Inevitably,
in this first year of i m p l e m e n t a t i o n , project partners needed
time to understand the processes of setting up and implementing activities
and therefore, the regional chairs were advised not to rush projects,
and were permitted to carry forward projects to 2004 wherever they felt
the conditions were not fully conducive for carrying out the project successfully
by the end of the year. The beneficiaries in 2003 include 55634 visually
impaired children and 3855 teachers, parents, and other personnel, a very
satisfactory start.
Based on the experiences of the first year
of implementation of the projects, the Principal Officers decided that
a macro plan for each region should be prepared in consultation with the
respective regional chairperson. The Secretary General is in dialogue
with the regional chairs and the second year of project implementation
under Drs. Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation
will be even more effective and focused than the ground breaking first
year.
