Hosts

The International Council for Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI)

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 believes that all children and young people with visual impairment and their families have the right to:

Equitable access and participation in the full range of educational services and programs on the basis of equal opportunity;
Receive early intervention and early childhood care and development services, and pre-primary education;
Support by teachers and other professionals who possess knowledge and skills in education of children and young people with visual impairment;
Educational materials, teaching methods, technology, assistive devices and programs that are of a high standard, conform to best practices, and address each child’s learning needs; and
Live in communities that are free of barriers and discrimination, where all people are valued and lead productive lives, in accordance with their personal aspirations and capabilities.

For programmatic convenience, ICEVI has divided their program countries in Asia into West Asia and East Asia Regions. Countries in the Middle East, Central Asia and SAARC region form the West Asia Region.

Centre for Services and Information on Disability (CSID):

Centre for Services & Information on Disability (CSID), is a non-profit voluntary organization of Bangladesh, formed in 1997 and registered with the government of Bangladesh.

CSID envisions “an inclusive society where all disadvantaged people, including Persons with Disabilities are living with equal rights, opportunities, access and dignity in comparison to other citizens of the country”.

The Mission of CSID is to reducing discrimination against marginalized people, including persons with disabilities in all aspects of life, including gender disparity; creating a physical and socio-economic barrier free environment; and empowerment of persons with disabilities and marginalized people through capacity building in order to mainstreaming them into society with equal rights and dignity.

The Executive Director of CSID is currently the ICEVI Country Representative in Bangladesh.

Quality & Inclusive Education Forum (QIEF)

The global COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented levels of disruption to education, impacting over 90% of the world’s student population: 1.54 billion children, including 743 million girls. A study revealed that 10 million children may never return, especially girls who fell at risk of being forced into early marriage. Without school, the most vulnerable children were exposed to hunger, violence, and abuse. For the first time in human history, an entire generation of children globally had their education disrupted. In many countries government and development partners began working together to provide alternative distance learning support for education continuity of children while schools were closed, but these were not sufficient to reach all children, especially the most marginalized & vulnerable children. Over 60% of national distance learning alternatives relied exclusively on online platforms – yet as many as 465 million children and young people in these countries did not have access to the internet at home.

Considering the above risks, return of all children in school became crucial due to health safety, learning loss and drop-out possibility. In this context, a comprehensive Safe Back to School (SB2S) campaign was initiated in Bangladesh by 20 National and International NGOs. In January 2023, experiences were shared at the Education Summit 2023, as a part of long-term advocacy initiative with policy makers.

After COVID-19, the SB2S member organizations continued to meet and converse about how this alliance can move forward to contribute to the government and other stakeholders, to enhance the quality and inclusive education in Bangladesh. All the members, led by Save the Children agreed to move forward replacing the name ‘Safe back to School (SB2S)’ in the new name Quality & Inclusive Education Forum (QIEF).

Overall Objective QIEF:

To advocate for quality and inclusive education in Bangladesh.

Specific Objectives:

To advocate with Policy Makers in mitigating learning loss through remedial interventions for both primary & secondary education
To campaign for ensuring equity & inclusiveness for both primary & secondary education
To contribute to mainstream INNOVATIVE APPROACH among different stakeholders.
To popularize the need of psychosocial support and disability inclusion in schools and communities