The EENET Interview
Ed-Todos (Education for All) is a non-governmental organisation which was founded in May 1998 in João Pessoa, Paraíba, North-Eastern Brazil. Here Windyz Ferreira talks about the aims of the organisation and its links with EENET.
Who is involved in Ed-Todos?
Ed-Todos is run by volunteers – adults and young people, including those with disabilities – committed to inclusion and the right to a quality education for all children. It started with a group of parents of disabled children and practitioners in the field. We are trying to network with volunteers from organisations that are also fighting exclusion and discrimination, such as racial discrimination, violence against women and the issue of street children.
What are the aims of the organisation?
We aim to create a network which will promote the sharing of information and the exchange of ideas, expertise and experiences. Our mission is to support the inclusion of vulnerable groups – with an emphasis on educational inclusion. We will disseminate up-to-date knowledge and research findings. Lecturers of the Federal University of Paraiba, practitioners from the Centre SUVAG (a school for the deaf) and a journalist from a local newspaper have a key role in this network.
How will you disseminate information?
We have just established a partnership with a student of computer science, who will help us develop our website. We have no funds, but we are making progress and we have lots of support from volunteers.
At present, we are organising an international conference in November entitled, ‘Moving towards inclusive education in South America: Learning from each other’. It will be the first of its kind in South America. Our objective is to create a forum for exchanging knowledge, experience and skills between policy makers, educators, practitioners, the disability rights movement and the wider community.
Will Ed-Todos expand throughout Brazil?
Yes, this is our aim. We have begun in Paraiba, which is a very poor state, but Brazil is very big – we cannot only think of the needs of Paraiba. We intend to serve the whole of Brazil, and, in the long-term, South America.
What links do you have with EENET?
I was a student at Manchester University when EENET was established in 1997. I helped EENET’s coordinator on a voluntary basis. Since returning to Brazil in May 2000, we have discussed the possibility of Ed-Todos becoming one of EENET’s regional partners.
However since we are just starting our information network, we will begin by becoming a Friend of EENET. We will make a link between our web sites, and we will disseminate the newsletter in Portuguese, which we can download from EENET’s web site. Issue 4 of Enabling Education is now available in Portuguese on a CD from EENET.
“EENET had a very important part to play in the foundation of Ed-Todos because it provided us with a model to fight discrimination and to organise a network”
We do not have an office yet, but if you want any further information about Ed-Todos, or the conference write to:
Profa. Windyz Ferreira
Universidade Federal da Paraíba
Centro de Educação-DHP
Campus João Pessoa
Castelo Banco, João Pessoa,
Paraíba
CEP 58.580-900
BRAZIL