PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:
It is a pleasure to prepare this message for the first issue of "The ICEVI Newsline" which will be sent to all members of the ICEVI International Consultative Committee twice a year, in July and January. We hope that the ICEVI Newsline, along with other efforts we are making will address the need for better communication among ICC members and will encourage more active participation of the ICC in developing ICEVI with the spirit of the policy document endorsed at our 10th World Conference in Sao Paulo in 1997.
Upon taking over the duties of President in late February I felt that it was important that we set some near and medium term priorities. In assessing the situation of ICEVI at that time we felt that two areas that needed the most immediate attention were:
1. -improving communication at all levels within ICEVI and with the network of external organizations with whom we work most closely and
2. -developing a plan to address short and medium term financial needs with specific attention to securing support to promote developments at a regional level.
Let me share with you what has happened since then, our accomplishments and the challenges that still face us.
COMMUNICATION:
This issue of the ICEVI Newsline is an immediate attempt to reconnect with the members of the ICC, to assure that they have regular updates on what is happening within ICEVI and to encourage you to become more actively involved. Like all organizations whose work is carried out largely as voluntary effort, ICEVI needs your assistance and input and I hope as you read through this issue of the Newsline you will give serious thought to how you can contribute to our global efforts to "increase access to education for all blind children no matter where they live".
We hope that the development of the new ICEVI website www.icevi.org will also improve communication and access to information. I will not go into much detail on the matter of the website as you will find a contribution from our webmaster, Victor Tsaran, later in this issue of Newline. However, let me underscore the appeal that Victor will be making to you to contribute regularly to the ICEVI website. A website only remains valuable if there is new content added on a regular basis. That is a responsibility that all members of the ICC share. So please do help us with that task.
The other major communication vehicles of ICEVI are our magazine, The Educator and our regional newsletters. I am pleased to report that four of our eight regions (Asia, East Asia, Europe and Latin America) are now publishing a regional newsletter and at least two more regions plan to develop newsletters shortly.
The Educator, has been produced at the Perkins School for the Blind for many years. However, about a year ago Perkins informed us that they no longer felt in a position to produce the magazine twice a year. However, they will continue to make a financial contribution to its production and for that we are most grateful. The last issue produced by Perkins has recently been sent to you and you can expect the next issue later this year or in the first quarter of 2001.
Let me take a moment to share with you the achievements and challenges that we currently face in producing and mailing The Educator. I will do so by telling you what has happened to date and what remains to be done in the months ahead to keep the ICEVI magazine coming to you on a regular basis.
The Educator will have a new look. Each issue will be thematic in nature and the feature articles will be on a specific topic of current interest to ICEVI members. The first issue will focus on the topic of "Literacy"
and will include three major articles by well known experts on this topic. The balance of each issue will contain useful information for our members on a variety of topics that will be divided into columns by the Editor, Ken Stuckey.
For the first time The Educator will have an editorial board and I am grateful to Bill Brohier, Rodney Clarke, Juan Jose Martinez, Susan Spungin, and Ken Stuckey for their work in this capacity. The editorial board welcomes your suggestions regarding future themes and your contributions to the columns and the calendar of events that will appear in each issue. Suggestions regarding themes should be sent to Susan Spungin spungin@afb.net and contributions for the columns and calendars to Ken Stuckey at kstuckey@hotmail.com.
A special word of thanks to Ken Stuckey who will serve as the Editor and to Susan Spungin who has agreed to coordinate the work of contributing authors and to write a short introduction for each thematic issue.
3.PRODUCTION AND MAILING:
This is an area that is still under discussion and where your assistance and input is very much needed. We are looking for an individual or organization with experience in layout and production to take on this responsibility so that we can keep production costs as low as possible. Related to this area, is the willingness of ICEVI members who have internet access to voluntarily agree to download an electronic version from our website rather than getting the print version. This will, of course, help enormously with both print production and mailing costs.
If you have some ideas that you think could help us in this area of production and mailing I would very much like to hear from you.
The final area of concern related to mailing is the ICEVI database. I will not go into detail here other than to say that we are making some
good headway in developing an up-to-date database, but this is one area where cooperation is very much needed. Karolina Tsaran has been doing work on our database and will be talking to you about that later in this issue of Newsline.
FINANCE:
For any voluntary organization this is always a topic of high priority and a constant source of concern. On taking over the Presidency and looking at our financial situation I realized that this area needed immediate attention. We are developing a three-pronged strategy for addressing finances which includes:
Carla Herrera, Treasurer has taken the lead in creating a Finance Committee and in later issues she will share with you some of her Committee's plans.
I am pleased to report that at a recent meeting held in the Netherlands which involved six of the ICEVI Officers and key representatives of the INGO community in the field of blindness a scheme similar to that developed by the International Agency for the Prevention of
Blindness to support its regional activities was discussed and adopted.
As I prepare this message to you our regional chairs are busily preparing short descriptions and budgets for national, sub-regional and regional activities that will be compiled in single document by our Secretary, Nandini Rawal. This document of "proposed ICEVI projects" at the regional level will then be circulated to INGO donor organizations who have agreed to support a number of such activities that are in keeping with their own programmatic and regional priorities.
Creating a solid financial base for ICEVI remains my most important priority. Without such a financial base it will be impossible to turn the vision expressed in the policy document adopted in Sao Paulo into reality.
In future issues of The ICEVI Newsline we will keep you posted on progress in implementing this three-pronged approach to securing for ICEVI the financial support it requires to achieve the common goal we all share "equal educational access for all blind children". This will also be a topic of major attention at our next Executive Committee meeting.
I realize at this point that the first issue of The ICEVI Newsline is getting much longer than I had intended; so let me now in short form update you on other matters that we are working on and encourage you to regularly visit the website for further details.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING:
As you know I asked your approval to postpone the meeting originally scheduled in Poland this month because of cost factors and the need for additional time to prepare for what I hope will be a really useful and productive Executive Committee meeting. We hope to schedule this meeting in Amman, Jordan in the first quarter of 2001. At this time we expect that meeting to take place on or about the week of February 26th but I will be confirming that with you shortly. However, I would ask that members of the Executive Committee make not of that date on your calendar.
POST OF VICE PRESIDENT:
At the moment this post is vacant and we are searching for candidates who either have considerable experience in the area of publications or who could bring some added strength to the team in the area of fund raising. We will keep you posted on this.
CONSTITUTION:
As agreed in Sao Paulo the ICEVI constitution in being revised to allow us to move from our current legal status as a Stchiting (Foundation) under Dutch law and become an Association, which allows for individual membership. A draft of the revised constitution has been prepared by Herman Gresnigt and Coen de Jong and is now being looked at by an international lawyer. When that work has been completed it will be sent to you so that you may review it before the next Executive Committee meeting in Amman.
REGIONAL REALIGNMENT:
As you will recall the policy document suggested realignment of some regions, based mainly on cultural and linguistic similarities. These proposed changes that will be circulated to you for your review before the Executive Committee meeting mostly involved the current Africa and Middle East regions. At the suggestion of my fellow officers meeting recently in the Netherlands, I have written to the countries that will be affected by such changes to ascertain whether they have any objection to such a propose realignment.
11TH WORLD CONFERENCE:
Planning is now underway for our 2002 World Conference at which we will mark our 50th
birthday. The Host Committee headed by Hans Welling and the Program Committee head by Heather Mason are already hard at work to make this a spectacular 50th birthday celebration.
ICEVI 2002 CONFERENCE
Dates: 27 July, 2002
VENUE:LEEUWENHORST CONGRESS CENTRE,
NOORDWIJKERHOUT, THE NETHERLANDS
A Sponsorship Committee headed by Carla Herrera is already making efforts to assure that we get good representation from all regions of the world.
The past few months have been very busy ones for me, but also months that have given me much joy in working with such a wonderful team of fellow officers. I am optimistic that during the remainder of the quinquennium many of the dreams outlined in our policy document adopted in Sao Paulo will be realized and that ICEVI will be on a new footing with significant achievements in strengthening and expanding our organization from its regional bases.
I want to thank you all for the co-operation and assistance that you have extended to me as I have taken the reins as President. I hope you will become more actively involved with ICEVI and that you will feel free to contact me with any ideas that you have that will strengthen and improve ICEVI.
Sincerely,
Larry Campbell
President