The Future

1. training programmes
   
   
2. the writing of additional educational cards
   
   
3. the duplication and dissemination of tools developed
   
   

1. Training programmes

Our major objective for the year 2000 is putting into place the necessary means to secure a web of information and training sessions of the visually impaired European citizens. A " national " trainer will be trained in nearly all EU countries. Thanks to European funding, this national trainer will deliver a two-day training to a number of " regional " trainers. In turn, these " regional " trainers will ensure, in the second half of 2000, the further dissemination of the training at local level to all workers (rehabilitation or social workers) and volunteers (peers) in the blind organisations who will be in charge of informing and training visually impaired persons to the euro in the second half of 2000 and in 2001. These " regional " trainers will also train or inform all information mediators on the euro for the general public or for more sensitive populations, on the particular measures taken at all levels for and/or by the visually impaired people. We can thus distinguish three different types of local " trainers " :

• Rehabilitation or social workers, teachers, volunteers,
• Peers, by which we mean visually impaired people themselves, who usually do not function as teachers, but would agree on following training so as to be in a position to teach other visually impaired people how to handle the euro notes and coins
• Information mediators outside the blind organisations.

People in the first two sections should definitely receive replica euro notes and coins in sufficient numbers to be able to conduct group sessions and put several same value coins and notes in people's hands. Ideally, information mediators should dispose of at least one series of replica euro notes and coins.

2. Additional pedagogical cards

These pedagogical cards will be available in the autumn 2000. They will be based on the experience drawn from trainers' training and first training sessions of the target public itself. They will mainly be the presentation of how to manage a number of training sessions with different types of target public. They will also be based on the experience drawn from our pursued contact with other sensitive populations (I.E.I.C., European Union of the Deaf, ILSMH) and from contact with the European representatives on education through DG XXII. They will be available in the UE languages in print and on audio-cassettes.

3. Duplication and dissemination of tools developed

If we have developed, or are going to develop a series of teaching tools and training material, these still need to be produced efficiently and in sufficient numbers to provide widespread training and information : the "euro brochure", the euro games, the pedagogical cards, some assistance devices (money identification devices, vocal euro converters).