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The meeting of the Principal Officers of ICEVI was held
in Bensheim, Germany on October 4th and 25th 2003. Bensheim was where
the ICEVI Strategic Plan had been developed by the Executive Committee
in February 2002 and so it was a fitting venue to review the organization's
achievements against the plan over the last year. The Principal Officers
were satisfied that almost all of the goals dentified in the Strategic
Plan are being addressed successfully. Below are some of the key points
from the meeting.
1. A range of ICEVI
projects have been successfully launched in Africa, East Asia, Latin America,
and West Asia funded by grants from the Drs. Richard Charles and Esther
Yewpick Lee Foundation. Thus far these projects have focused on developing
awareness about the abilities of persons with visual impairment and providing
in- service training for teachers and professionals working with children
with visual impairment. As a result of the insights gained during the
first year of implementation, it was decided that in future priority should
be given to projects that would have impact regionally rather than locally
and to projects that had specific long term outcomes such as a learning
package, or innovation in the curriculum that would enrich educational
services for children with visual impairment across a region. Each Regional
Chairperson has been approached individually to develop region specific
strategies.
2.
Because of the considerable costs involved in production and distribution
of The Educator, it was decided to rationalize distribution policy. The
Educator, will continue to be supplied free of cost to organizations for
the blind throughout the world, however individuals who wish to continue
to receive a personal copy will be asked to pay a subscription for the
quadrennium.
3. ICEVI is in the
process of developing a concept paper on "Education for all visually
impaired children by the year 2015". In developing the paper, the
ideas found in the WBUICEVI joint draft position paper on "Education"
and the joint policy statement of the CBM and Sight Savers International
need to be looked into for their usage.
4. A draft Memorandum
of Understanding may be signed between ICEVI and the International Blind
Sports Federation (IBSA) in the near future.
5. ICEVI is exploring
the possibility of holding pre or postconference workshops or symposiums
on education related themes at the time of the 12th International Mobility
Conference to be held in Hong Kong in 2006.
6. Institutions working
for the welfare of persons with blindness around the world will be invited
to become subscribing members of ICEVI.
7. As per the new
constitution of ICEVI, country delegates need to be elected to vote at
the general assembly held during the world conferences. The Principal
Officers opined that 10 delegates from each of the 7 regions may be elected
by the respective regions to vote at the general assembly in addition
to the members of the Executive Committee and two deputy regional chairs
from each region. As per this composition, 106 members will be eligible
to vote at the general assembly and this process is being examined by
the Executive Committee of ICEVI.
8. The 12th World
Conference of ICEVI will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 16 to
21 July 2006 and the Program Committee of the Conference has already been
formed.
9. ICEVI will be
bringing out an annual report from now onwards for its constituency. The
first report for the year 2003 will be tabled at the meeting of the Executive
Committee to be held in Kuala Lumpur on 6-7 February 2004.
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