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Introduction:
The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 90% of the global
population of persons with visual impairment live in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America. The International Council for Education of People with
Visual Impairment (ICEVI) is facilitating programs in all regions to achieve
the global objective of education for all children with visual impairment
in line with the Dakar Declaration, which states that education for all
children should be achieved by the year 2015. While reaching the target
in the stipulated time is important, ensuring equal educational experience
for children with visual impairment is equally important. As these children
are devoid of visual experiences, the teachers and other personnel involved
in serving them should understand the techniques of providing the best
possible experiences to optimize their learning. It is in this context
that efforts are needed at all levels to improve the capacity of teachers
and other personnel working with children with visual impairment.
Many developing countries still have to mount human resource development
programs to prepare practising teachers to serve children with visual
impairment. While some nations have a specialist element in their initial/
pre-service teacher training, there are very few opportunities for serving
teachers to receive additional specialist training. As both preservice
and in-service training are important to improve the quality of teachers,
ICEVI with the help of Drs. Richard Charles and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable
Foundation is providing technical assistance to countries that wish to
launch human resource development programs and offer capacity building
programs to the existing teachers to update their skills. In addition
to these programs, the ICEVI-Lee initiative will also be help to create
awareness among various personnel regarding the
capabilities of persons with visual impairment. Support from the Lee Foundation
is creating an opportunity to address one of the long held global objectives
of providing quality education for all children with visual impairment.
Processes adopted in the ICEVI-Lee Initiative:
The ICEVI-Lee initiative was discussed at length within the Executive
Committee of ICEVI where it was decided to focus attention on the developing
countries within four regions; Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and West
Asia where need was greatest. A comprehensive Needs Assessment Questionnaire
was developed and shared with the Regional Chairpersons of ICEVI to fix
priorities within their regions. The objectives of the Lee initiative
were then shared with the delegates of the 11th World Conference held
at the Netherlands in July/August 2002 where the scheme was officially
launched. Evaluation criteria were developed for the selection of projects
to be supported under the Lee Foundation Scheme. Regional Committees selected
the projects from their region for which they requested support. Regional
Chairpersons were encouraged to generate matching contributions in the
form of materials, manpower, etc., for the projects implemented under
the Lee Foundation Grant.
These projects were then reviewed by the Secretary General and the Principal
Officers before final approval was granted. The procedures adopted for
project selection, monitoring and reporting are rigorous. As this is the
first full year of implementation we will review these procedures carefully
and make necessary adjustments based upon our experiences and the outcomes
of the first year of operation.
Description of major topics:
The Regional Chairpersons were asked to prepare proposals under the broad
objectives of the Lee Foundation Grant, namely, creating awareness about
the capabilities of persons with visual impairment, developing capacity
of teachers and other personnel, and developing innovative strategies
and best practices. The project proposals that have been accepted address
the following specific themes:
* Awareness of information technology for persons with visual impairment
* Inclusive education for persons with visual impairment
* Teaching-learning materials
* Community based rehabilitation
* Parental Education
* Braille codes
* Computer literacy
* Evaluation strategies
* Education of low vision children
* Teaching Mathematics
* Education of deafblind children
* Education of children with multiple disabilities
* Orientation and Mobility
* Early Intervention
* Visual Stimulation
* Regional and national networking
* Non-formal education
* Effective teacher preparation programs
* Plus curricular activities for children with visual impairment
During the year 2003, 99 projects are being implemented – 22 projects
in Africa region, 17 in East Asia region, 30 in Latin America, and another
30 in the West Asia region.
Target Audience:
The programs in the ICEVI-Lee initiative target stakeholders at all levels
including:
* Policy makers
* Teacher educators
* Teachers
* Community leaders
* Children with visual impairment
* Sighted children
* Parents and parents’ organizations
Direct and Indirect Beneficiaries:
During the year 2003, the projects are expected to provide professional
development training and awareness programs to 4,298 teachers and personnel.
We project that these trained persons are likely to support 72,860 children
with visual impairment in the four regions. These are the direct beneficiaries.
The average per capita training cost will be approximately $ 82.71 resulting
in a unit cost of $ 4.88 per child.
Funds:
The ICEVI-Lee Initiative is working on the basis of matched funding generated
by ICEVI from other donor sources. The total cost of the program during
2003 is $350,800 of which $170,800 has been granted by Drs. Richard Charles
and Esther Yewpick Lee Charitable Foundation and $180,000 has been generated
from other donors.
ICEVI is proud of this collaboration with the Lee Foundation and its other
donors and is glad that this unique initiative is helping to address the
global objective of ICEVI to make education for all visually impaired
children a reality by 2015.
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