Regional Plan

Plan for ICEVI Pacific Region, 2006-2010

The International Council for Education of People with Vision Impairment (ICEVI) is a global association of individuals and organisations. It promotes equal access to appropriate education for all girls and boys with vision impairments so that they may achieve their full potential, and works in close partnership with the World Blind Union.

ICEVI's Pacific Region consists of the following 14 member countries (in alphabetical order): Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua and New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu.

The Pacific Regional Committee for the 2006-2010 term of office consists of the following people:

  • Chairperson: Frances Gentle
  • Immediate Past Chairperson: Dr. Jill Keefe, currently Senior Vice President of ICEVI
  • Deputy Chairpersons: James Aiwa, Tricia d'Apice, Doreen Roebeck, Setareki Macanawai, and Karen Stobbs
  • Ex-Officio Committee Members: Sandie Mackevicius (President of SPEVI); Kua Cheng Hock (President of World Blind Union Asia-Pacific Region); Paul Manning (Executive Officer of Parents of Vision Impaired NZ), and Gayle Skinner (President of Australian Association for Parents of Vision Impaired Inc.)

ICEVI Pacific Region has prepared a Strategic Plan to make it more proactive to the realities of the region, and productive in the support it provides.

Our Vision and Mission

To make Education For All children with a Vision Impairment within the Pacific Region a reality.

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Our Beliefs and Values

The Pacific Region of ICEVI believes that the lives of girls and boys with vision impairments can dramatically improve when they are given equal educational opportunities as well as the experiences that are provided for sighted children. Keeping "equal access" as its mission, ICEVI Pacific Region will continuously reinforce values and quality in services for persons with vision impairments to empower them with their human rights. These values include:

  • Provision of and access to appropriate early intervention services,
  • Provision of and access to appropriate support services,
  • Promoting equality of educational opportunity,
  • Support for families and communities,
  • Empowerment of girls and boys with vision impairments and their families,
  • Creation of environments free from social stigma and stereotypes
  • Provision of learning materials in accessible formats to facilitate full inclusion in the societies and cultures of our Region.
  • Full inclusion of boys and girls with vision impairment in the societies and cultures of the region.
  • Focus on the importance of individual choices and rights.

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Setting Realistic Goals

In order to realise these beliefs and values, ICEVI Pacific's Strategic Plan has been drafted with its main focus on the strengthening of context-specific policies and programs at the regional and local levels. Set out below is a draft of the broad goals and associated strategies for achieving the ICEVI vision and values in the Pacific Region during the 2006-2010 Quadrennium.

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Making Education for All Children with Vision Impairments (EFA-VI) a Reality

Goal 1: To advocate to ensure greater access and full participation in education for all children and youth with vision impairments between 2007 and 2015.

Our parent body, ICEVI, in partnership with the World Blind Union, is enlisting the support of Government and Non-Government Development Organisations (NGDOs) across the globe to realise its goals. Out of the six goals, the first four pertain to strengthening local specific initiatives to provide access to all children with vision impairments. Goal 1 of the EFA-VI global campaign focuses on the access and full participation in education for all children with vision impairments by 2015. This goal implies that all countries, particularly those in the developing world should try to develop Action Plans to be realised by 2015. ICEVI recognises the fact that education for all in most developing nations, at present, is still a non-reality. Therefore, ICEVI is promoting a realistic time frame to achieve education for all children with vision impairments. The ICEVI regions and even countries within the region have to lay emphasis in realising this goal, and therefore, the EFA-VI Global Task Force and the Regional Chairpersons hold the key in implementing the global campaign.

Strategy:

The Region's constituent countries will:

  • Undertake a situation analysis to determine the availability of (a) legislation, (b) policies, (c) statistical information on numbers of children to be served, (d) existing human resources (and as well as determine the need for human resources and human resource development programs), (e) material production centres, and (f) evaluation mechanisms.
  • Identify the number of children and youth who are blind or have low vision, including those who are currently not attending school or only attending part-time.
  • Enhance understanding of the benefits of education of children with vision impairment through public awareness campaigns directed at local governments, funding agencies, media, families and communities.
  • Increase demand for the education of children who are blind or have low vision through the promotion of EFA-VI goals at all levels of society.
  • Establish the framework for a region-wide mentoring program.
  • Initiate a media campaign to emphasise the importance of EFA.
  • Advocate that all teacher preparation programs include vision impairment content.
  • Organise teacher exchange opportunities so that more special and regular class teachers gain experience in vision impairment.

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Capacity Building as a Vehicle for Success

Goal 2: To promote and assist in building local capacity to develop curricula, provide training and to identify and provide equipment and materials to children and youth with vision impairments and their parents, teachers and others in communities within the Region.

Capacity building is one of the key elements in services for persons with vision impairments. Capacity building percolates from professionals to other stakeholders, such as parents and community members. ICEVI is trying to develop expertise at the local level to ensure sustainability of services. The EFA-VI Global Task Force, together with the Regional Chairpersons and Committee has a crucial role in this context. Local support should be generated through the cooperation of universities, training institutes and voluntary organisations, which can develop appropriate human development programs to train quality teachers and personnel to work with children and youth with vision impairments. ICEVI's focus on strengthening capacity building at the local level is a welcome move.

Strategy:

The Region's constituent countries will:

  • Identify strengths and deficiencies in the current provision of education to ensure curriculum developments that address the needs of all children and youth who are blind or vision impaired.
  • Ensure that National Education Plans have a section on the education of children and youth who are blind or vision impaired. This includes those developed under the impetus of the Pacific Regional Initiatives for the Delivery of Basic Education (PRIDE) Project of the University of the South Pacific (funded through the European Development Fund and New Zealand Agency for International Development).
  • Develop budgets that are adequate to ensure the inclusion of children and youth who are blind or vision impaired in National Education Plans.
  • Establish a permanent focus on inclusive/special education within the government department responsible for education.
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Documentation of Best Practices for Potential Replication

Goal 3: To ensure that Pacific Regional initiatives are based on current evidence of best practice.

ICEVI Pacific Region wants to be innovative and does not wish to unnecessarily duplicate the efforts of others. Rather we propose to document the best replicable practices in the field of education of children with vision impairment and recommend their adoption in the Region's constituent countries. ICEVI believes that documentation of good practices should happen mostly through research and empirical evidence. ICEVI is also seeking cost-effective best practices. Again, this international goal is directed towards regional activity.

Strategy:

The Region's constituent countries will:

  • Establish a set of principles based on the EFA, drawing upon existing documents, e.g. the NZ National Plan, SPEVI Principles and Standards.
  • Identify and support "Centres of Excellence" within the Pacific Region.
  • Identify best practice in education by communicating with key organisations, including the PRIDE Project of the University of the South Pacific and all others World-wide.
  • Provide information on best practice in education to the appropriate government authorities and education organisations.
  • Share information about the growth of best practice in the Region's constituent countries.
  • Identify research needs within the region, and research currently being conducted.

Goal 4: To collaborate with and make use of networks to ensure that substantially more children and youth with vision impairments receive a quality and comprehensive education during the period of this ICEVI Pacific Region Plan (2006-2010).

Collaboration and links are vital to expand services and also to generate quality outcomes. ICEVI aims to complement the initiatives of other organisations, which share similar objectives. ICEVI believes that effective cooperation with, for example, World Blind Union, and bodies of the United Nations at the global and regional levels will help in avoiding wastage in services, and ensure educational access to greater numbers of children with vision impairments.

Strategy:

The Region's constituent countries will:

  • ICEVI Pacific Regional Committee will disseminate information on effective approaches and systems for the education of children and youth who are blind or have low vision.
  • Identify a range of vision impairment agencies and parent groups within the region.
  • Ensure that parent networks are initiated and strengthened in all nations within the region.
  • Seek assistance/funding to bring parents of children who are Blind, Deafblind or Vision Impaired to Regional or National Parent Training forums.
  • Explore opportunities for parents in the Region to have regular communication,
  • Explore innovative ways of teaching parents and associated professionals the value of working collaboratively.
  • Explore funding opportunities for parent organisations to become self-sustainable.
  • Seek greater collaboration between service providers and the region's parent organisations.
  • Identify potential donor agencies (e.g. governments, NGOs and Trusts) at national and international levels to secure greater fiscal and human resources for the region.
  • Organise meetings with PRIDE, SPEVI, WBU, Governments and NGOs as well as parent organisations to discuss the regional plan and brainstorm ways of bringing EFA to fruition in our region.

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Marketing Strategy for Mobilisation of Resources

Goal 5: To provide information on ICEVI and its Pacific Region through all possible and appropriate media to all target groups.

Implementing any innovative plan requires substantial funding. The vision of ICEVI to ensure educational opportunities to all persons with vision impairments needs to be shared with service providers, businesses and Government bodies within the Region. The likely gains of a collaborative approach should also be marketed for wider dissemination and acceptance.

Strategy:

ICEVI will:

  • Provide timely and relevant information in a number of ways to the Region's constituent countries, including through a regular newsletter, circulated electronically and in print, audio and Braille formats, where requested, and via the websites of ICEVI and affiliated organisations throughout the Pacific Region.
  • Hold Pacific Regional forums for representatives of the Region's constituent countries to attend as appropriate.
  • The EFA-VI Global Taskforce will provide media lists, brochures, concept papers etc for distribution to government, educational authorities, professionals, media, funding bodies, etc.

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Ensuring Strong Administrative Setting

Goal 6: To build an appropriate and sustainable organisational structure for ICEVI within the Region, to include the requisite financial base.

In order to achieve the goals presented so far, ICEVI is emphasising the need to establish a strong regional support base and effective central coordination. Therefore, ICEVI has a full-time Secretary General who works as a liaison between policy formulation and program implementation activities. The Secretary General represents ICEVI in policy-making meetings globally and regionally depending on need. The Secretary General is also the Executive Director of the EFA-VI Campaign. He reports directly to the Chairperson of the Global Task Force, who is also the President of ICEVI.

Strategy:

ICEVI Pacific Region will:

  • Work with national governments to establish EFA-VI National Task Forces in constituent countries, with direct reporting links to the Global Task Force, the Pacific Regional Chairperson and Committee.
  • The National Task Forces will consist of members who are able to influence their Governments in policy development and change, and the implementation of EFA-VI activities.

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Expected Results

ICEVI's Pacific Region is heading towards
Innovative and
Collaborative
Efforts for serving more
Vision Impaired Persons
In the Pacific Region

For information relating to the ICEVI Pacific Region, contact:

Ms Frances Gentle
Chair – ICEVI Pacific Region

The Renwick Centre
Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children,
Private Bag 29
Parramatta, NSW 2124
Ph (02) 9872 0808, Fax (02) 9873 1614
Email: frances.gentle at ridbc.org.au

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