During the year 2001 the region continued developing the Plan of Action co-operatively with a number of international non-governmental organisations active in the region, mainly Christoffel Blindenmission and Fundacion Once para America Latina (FAOL), in addition to the local governmental and non-governmental organisations.

This plan of action for four years was prepared jointly with the representatives from each country. All of them have a lot of knowledge from their own country. The year 2001 was the third one and we developed the following activities:

ICEVI was represented in a panel jointly with other organizations and INGOs such as: Unicef, Unesco, Save the Children, CBM etc. held in Joao Pesoa, Brazil organized by "Education for All".

First meeting Technician on Low Vision, held in Caracas, Venezuela, November 23-26. The Special Interest group on Low Vision which is lead by Patricia Ramos from Chile was in charge of organizing this event. It was attended by 20 technicians from different countries in the region and two specialists from other regions, Maria Jesus Vicente Mosquete from Spain and Rolf Lund from Norway. This meeting was supported by CBM and FOAL.

Second Sub-Regional ICEVI Conference, "Building Bridges Between Disability and Opportunities" held in Quito, Ecuador, June 25-29.

During the morning plenary session on the following themes were development: Integration/inclusion, Low Vision, Multi-disability, CBR and Parents. During afternoon four workshops were developed on the following themes: Low Vision, Early Intervention, Professional Rehabilitation and Multi-disability. The local committee was headed by Fanny Paz, Ecuador and Program Committee by Luz Tirado, Colombia. This conferences was supported by CBM and FOAL.

It is distributed in every country through the representatives of each one.

National Level

Cuba: Visit for assessment and support to four schools from different cities of the country, support by CBM.

Bolivia: Course on "Daily Skill Activities" Norma Pastorinio from Argentina was in Charge, supported by CBM and FOAL.

Ecuador: Visit for advice of the activities of the Ministry of Education on Inclusive Education, supported by CBM.

Ecuador: Visit for assessment and advice of the Special School of Quito and their activities on inclusive education.

Haiti: Visit for assessment and advice of the program of RBC which is development in the country with CBM support.

Mexico: Course on Integration/inclusion Education supported by CBM and FOAL.

Dominican Republic: Assessment of the activities on Integration/inclusion that is developed by the special school of the country, at national level, with the support of CBM.

Luica Piccione
ICEVI Chairperson, Latin America