6th Africa Forum, Kampala, Uganda

WORKSHOPS AND INTERACTIVE SESSIONS (14:00 – 16:00 HRS)

8th AFUB General Assembly (Victoria Hall)

Jace Nair, African Union of the Blind (AFUB), Kenya.

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The 8th AFUB General Assembly proposes to bring together the 53 member countries of AFUB. The General Assembly is a constitutional requirement and the agenda will include the presentation of The Presidential address and quadrennial narrative and financial report; Strategic Plan for the next term; Constitutional amendments; and Election of the Board and Office Bearers. Approximately 120 participants comprising delegates, observers, staff and guests will be expected at the General Assembly.

ICEVI: The EFA-VI Campaign (Meera Hall)
Dr. M.N.G. Mani and Regional Chairs, ICEVI

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The Education For All Children with Visual Impairment, (EFA-VI) Global Campaign is implemented by the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI), acting in partnership with the World Blind Union (WBU). The purpose of the campaign is to work with all stakeholders to ensure that more children with visual impairment are enrolled in the educational systems prevailing in the participating countries. This interactive session will outline the guiding principles of the campaign, current status worldwide, specific activities of the campaign in the Africa region and the future plans. Members of the Executive Committee of ICEVI, the Global Task Force of the Campaign and practitioners at the national level will participate in this interactive session.
Making Braille Accessible To All – The Challenges oF Braille Production In Africa (Sheena Hall)
D. Merriman, Braillo Norway, Norway, K. Juma, ABC, Kenya & R Mwanzi, KIB, Kenya..

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In April this year, Braillo Norway in collaboration with the African Braille Centre and the Kenya Institute for the Blind hosted an East African Regional Braille Production Workshop which brought together participants from institutions producing Braille in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Some of the issues discussed included standardisation of Braille codes, transcription of mathematics, reducing the cost of Braille production, access to electronic copies of books, form publishers, adaptation and presentation of tactile impressions, and, improving Braille reading and writing skills among learners. Participants at the workshop recommended that a follow-up workshop be held at the 6^th Africa Forum to facilitate the sharing of experiences among a wider spectrum of producers of Braille on these and other related issues. This workshop is therefore open to all that have an interest in the production and use of Braille.

Developing And Delivering An Advocacy Agenda For Inclusion In Primary Eye Care (Royal Hall)

Dr D. Lackey, HelpAge EWCARDC Office, Kenya.

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This is a practical workshop where participants will be taken through the various steps in developing and delivering an advocacy agenda for inclusion of Primary Eye Care within the national Primary health care systems. It will involve group work activities on developing an advocacy strategies using the conceptual framework. Groups could be divided in country blocks of say Eastern, Southern, West Africa. Maximum number of participants would need to be 40 for four groups of 10 members. Feedback in the form of a role play with advocacy team of three members meeting a key decision-maker to deliver the advocacy message will follow.

Basic Skills For Mathematics In Primary Schools (Regal Hall)

A. Buurmeijer & P. Wijen, Royal Dutch Visio, Netherlands.

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During this workshop, Royal Dutch Visio would like to demonstrate how to teach mathematics to visually impaired pupils. Mathematics is action in which logical thinking and ranking of information plays an important part. It therefore requires understanding and insight. It is important to make mathematics as tactile as possible: every mathematical formula is preceded by action in which materials are physically handled. Since severely visually impaired pupils need to perform actions in order to gain an understanding of mathematics, it is essential to pay particular attention to tactile functioning. Such pupils depend on tactile functioning to gain experience of performing actions and it is the basis for their understanding. Teaching mathematics to blind and low vision pupils requires a teacher with a lot of creativity, patience and solution orientated skills. This workshop will give insight and tools for anyone interested in teaching mathematics.

Training Program On Inclusive Publishing – II (Majestic Hall)

The DAISY Consortium / UNESCO

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The target audience for this training people engaged in preparing books in publishing companies, libraries, government, schools/colleges and not-for-profits A hands-on training of two days duration for people engaged in preparing books in publishing companies, libraries, government, schools/colleges and not-for-profits to give them knowledge and skill of producing digital content that conforms to international standards and is accessible to everyone including people with disabilities. The training will include production of digital files conforming to EPUB3 and DAISY standard using open source and popular tools used in publishing. Computers would be required for all participants.
IDP Youth Empowerment and Mentorship Initiatives (Emerald Hall)
Martin Kieti, IDP, Kenya.

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Over the past five years the Institutional Development Program has been working with national associations of the blind in Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi to mentor young professionals who are blind or partially sighted as new change agents in their communities. The projects have also included preparing the youth for diversified career opportunities and leadership, especially within the non-disability milieu. In 2013, the IDP convened the First Young Leaders Camp, a two-week empowerment experience for twenty blind and partially sighted youth from nine African countries to build their self-determination and exposé them to transformational thinking and leadership. This workshop brings together participants and mentors from the three countries as well as the Youth Camp to share experiences and suggest recommendations on how youth programs may be strengthened. Presentations will be made from the three countries and from the Camp. All youth and youth-at-heart are welcome.

Strengthening Educational Outcomes And Impact (Amethyst Hall)

Panel Chair: Dr. Nandini Rawal, Treasurer, ICEVI, India.
Designing Monitoring and Evaluation Systems For Educational Impact.

P. Lee, Perkins International, USA.

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There is an increasing demand for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems and expertise around the world. However, there is often much confusion about what M&E actually is. It is more than the use of technology, indicators, and data-tracking spreadsheets. This presentation discusses how Perkins International is currently designing and utilizing its monitoring and evaluation system. The latest endeavour is to streamline and scale up its M&E operations across five global regions and invest in the use of technology to facilitate the process. The anticipated outcome is to have a single-unified system that is user-friendly and allows both partners and staff to efficiently enter data, track process of activities, and extract information for donor reporting.
Monitoring Of Vulnerable Children In Inclusive Education.

P. Katende & G. Mugote, Africa Centre for Development Impact, Uganda.

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This paper presents an inclusive education monitoring tool on how children’s progress in 20 indicators which promote the participation of children with visual impairment in schools. The tool has been developed by Africa Centre for Development Impact. The presentation shows how children have progresses from various levels. The indicators hinge around; medical assessment, mobility to and from school, attitudes of mainstream teachers, access to education materials, braille grade, orientation in schools, safety of school environment, use of assistive technology, participation in tests, child to child activities, child’s confidence and attitude, economic status, exit strategy and exit or termination of support.
Leveraging an Integrated Program Design to Maximize Reach:

Observations from USAID’s Malawi Early Grade Reading Activity.

T. S. Slade, RTI International, Malawi.

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USAID’s Malawi Early Grade Reading Activity (EGRA) provides technical assistance to the Government of Malawi to improve the reading performance of learners in Standards 1–3. One of the EGRA’s cross-cutting themes focuses on students with disabilities. Only approximately 3% of EGRA’s budget was earmarked for disability programming. The presentation discusses concrete lessons that RTI and Perkins International have learned over the course of EGRA’s implementation with the goal of supporting other USAID implementers’ efforts to effectively integrate an inclusive approach. It also examines some of the challenges an embedded approach to design poses for post-hoc accounting of funds allocated toward disability programming.
The Potential Impact of Policy Frameworks on the Future Educational Prospects of Learners with Visual Impairment in Rwanda.

Dr. P. Suubi, University of Rwanda College of Education, Rwanda.

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Rwanda now officially offers nine years of free basic education to all children, and the plan is to extend this to twelve years. This has led to an increase in the numbers of children with disabilities, including visual impairment, attending school. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges presented by the two policies in the context of providing quality education for learners with visual impairment. The author draws on his experience working in the SNE sub-sector to analyse the future prospects for children with visual impairment based on the policies mentioned above. This paper argues that the current policy situation in Rwanda provides promising opportunities for the education of visually impaired children.

An Overview Of The Educational Low Vision Intervention In The Kenyan Education Sector

E. K. Laggat / R. Rukwaro, Kenya Institute of Special Education, Kenya.

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Learners with low vision in Kenya are entitled to a comprehensive educational program in line with various government Policies and legal frame work. In light of these policy blueprints, a comprehensive education programme should include services from an interdisciplinary team consisting of ophthalmic/optometrist care providers, low vision therapist, special education teachers for learners with visual impairment and other related professionals. However a global survey published in 2011 showed that only a very small proportion of people with low vision have access to low vision services. This paper outlines the structure of educational low vision intervention service delivery as practiced in Kenya.