Pacific Disability Forum
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Event Name:
Pacific Regional O & M Training
Event Location:
NADAVE, FIJI
Event Date:
03 November 2008
Through the generous financial assistance of PRIDE/USP, a Pacific regional non-award Professional Diploma in Orientation and Mobility, Pacific Region training course is now planned for a period of 4 weeks (03-28 November 2008) at the Nadave CATD Training Centre outside Nausori town, and not too far from Suva.
This training course is delivered in partnership with the International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) and in collaboration with RIDBC based in Sydney, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the United Nations Economic & Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP Pacific Office.
The Orientation and Mobility course addresses an identified priority area of need for a train-the-trainer program within the Pacific. It was one of three priority areas identified by delegates from five PRIDE member countries (Fiji, Kiribati, PNG, Samoa & Tonga) at the ICEVI Pacific Regional Forum held in Perth, Western Australia in January 2007. The O&M course addresses the goals of the UN Education For All (EFA), and the ICEVI and World Blind Union "Education for All Children with Vision Impairment" (EFA-VI) global campaigns. The EFA-VI campaign is endorsed by UNESCO and UNICEF, and its goals are aligned with UNESCO's EFA global campaign.
The proposed course aims to train mobility instructors to directly support the development of mobility skills of education and rehabilitation professionals working with children and youth with vision impairments. The focus areas of the training course will be instruction in the long cane and "sighted guide techniques". Trained mobility instructors will then be able to work in their home countries with specialist resource and classroom teachers, parents, and children with vision impairments. As a result of this training, blind and severely vision impaired children and youth will develop the mobility skills needed to travel to school with a level of independence; to physically access school classrooms and playgrounds; and to independently move around their local community.
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