The International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) is a global association of individuals and organizations that promotes equal access to appropriate education for all visually impaired children and youth so that they may achieve their full potential. ICEVI has prepared a Strategic Plan to make it more proactive to the realities, positive to changes, and productive in its services. ICEVI believes that visually impaired children and youth can manifest their abilities when they are given equal educational opportunities as well as experiences that are provided for sighted children. Keeping "equal access" as its mission, ICEVI is reinforcing values and quality in services for persons with visual impairment to empower them with their human rights. These values include appropriate early intervention services, support from families and communities, creation of environment free from social stigma and stereotypes, provision of learning materials in accessible format, etc, to facilitate their full inclusion in the society.

In order to realize these values, the strategic plan of ICEVI has been prepared with its main thrust on the strengthening of context specific policies and programs at the regional and even at the sub-regional level. The broad goals for achieving the values are operationalized as follows:

ICEVI is enlisting the support of Governments and Non-Government Development Organizations (NGDO's) across the globe to realize its goals. Out of the six goals, the first four pertain to strengthening local specific initiatives to provide access to all visually impaired children. Goal 1 focuses on the access and full participation to visually impaired children by 2015. This goal implies that all countries, particularly those in the developing world should try to develop an action plan to be realized latest by 2015. ICEVI recognizes the fact that education for all in most developing nations, at present, is still a non-reality, and even the UN-ESCAP Target 2002 is an unfinished agenda. Therefore, ICEVI is promoting a realistic time frame as 2015 to achieve education for all visually impaired children. The regions and even countries within the region have to lay emphasis in realizing this goal, and therefore, the regional chairpersons of ICEVI hold the key.

Capacity building is one of the key elements in services for persons with visual impairment. Capacity building not only stops with professionals but percolates to other stakeholders too such as parents, community members, etc. ICEVI is trying to develop expertise at the local level so as to ensure continuity in services. Again, the regional Chairpersons have a crucial role in this context. The local support should be facilitated through the cooperation of universities, training institutes and voluntary organizations, which can develop appropriate manpower development programs to train quality teachers and personnel to work with children and youth with visual impairment. The focus of ICEVI to strengthen the capacity building at the local level is a welcome move. The changing perception of ICEVI from policy promotion to practice at the grassroot level has a lot of positive implications in the field.

ICEVI wants to be innovative and does not wish to duplicate the efforts of others. Rather ICEVI is proposing to document the best replicable practices in the field and recommend their adoption in other areas. This objective is amplified in Goal 3 of the strategic plan. ICEVI believes that documentation of good practices should happen mostly through research and empirical evidences. ICEVI is also trying to find out cost-effectiveness among best practices in order to achieve more with fewer resources. Again, this goal is directed towards regional activity and it highlights the concern of ICEVI to become a broad-based grass root level organization.

Collaboration and multi-structural linkages are vital for expanding services and also to make them more quality oriented. ICEVI aims to complement the initiatives of other organizations, which share similar objectives. ICEVI believes that effective cooperation with World Blind Union, bodies of the United Nation, etc., at the global and regional levels would help in avoiding wastage in services, and ensure coverage of more visually impaired children. This spirit is reflected in Goal 4 of the strategic plan. ICEVI as a collaborator of international efforts is bound to result in constructive development in the policy front and practices.

Implementing any innovative plan requires substantial funding. The vision of ICEVI to ensure educational opportunities to all visually impaired persons need to be shared with NGDOs and Government bodies. The likely gains of collaborative approach should also be marketed for wider dissemination and acceptance. Therefore, Goal 6 of the Strategic Plan emphasizes the need to market the approaches of ICEVI through print and electronic media. ICEVI believes that this sharing of information would bring many NGDO organizations closer to work for a common goal.

In order to achieve these goals stated so far, ICEVI is emphasizing the need for establishing a strong regional support and an effective central coordination. Therefore, ICEVI plans to appoint in the near future a full-time Secretary General who will work as a liaison between the policy formulation and program implementation. The Secretary General will also be expected to represent ICEVI in policy making meetings globally and regionally depending on the needs. ICEVI is becoming a stronger and more professional organization with both commitment and clarity of purpose to develop access for children and youth with visual impairment to education and vocational opportunities to realize their true potentialities.

As is evident from the mission, values, and goals, ICEVI’s emphasis on the regional level activities is more solid than even before. Its openness to collaboration and multi-sectoral linkages is stronger now. Its transformation from mere volunteerism to professional backing is likely to ensure stability to the day-to-day functioning of the organization. The networking with NGDOs is likely to bring them to a common platform to exchange resources and expertise for a common cause.

In short, the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment is heading towards

Innovative and
Collaborative
Efforts for serving more
Visually Impaired Persons
Internationally.

M.N.G. Mani
Regional Chairperson, Asia