Our vision
Today, 36 million people in the world are blind. By 2050, as many as 115 million will be blind.
But we envision a world in which no person is needlessly blind or vision impaired.
Our purpose
We are determined to deliver Fred Hollows’ vision of preventing blindness and restoring sight.
We work around the world so that no one is left behind, and in Australia we work tirelessly to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can always exercise their right to sight and good health.
Our priority is to work with communities to improve their own eye health. We do this through life-changing surgeries and treatments, training doctors and health workers, generating new ideas, and pushing for change at all levels – from local to global.
Our contribution
Year-on-year increase in cases of blindness and vision impairment averted and years of sight saved with support from The Foundation. Gender equity, inter-country and internal equity achieved in this impact.
Our values
Our values are integral to the way we work to deliver our vision.
Our values are:
- Integrity
- Empowerment
- Action
- Collaboration
How we deliver
The Foundation has developed key approaches to achieve impact in eye health. Our approaches are informed by the World Health Organization’s systems framework, delivered through a health system strengthening approach to improve equity, quality, efficiency and sustainability.
Our approaches
- Treat, train and equip
- Strengthen health systems
- Engage and empower communities
- Advocate and influence
- Innovate to accelerate change
This strategy then identifies five areas across which we will grow our expertise, enabling us to drive greater impact on the ground and elevate our international recognition as a value-focused organisation.
This is not a comprehensive view of all the areas of expertise that we possess or seek, but indicate our initial focus areas.
Our targeted areas of expertise
- Medical and eye-health expertise focused on quality and efficiency
- Health financing for affordable eye health
- Community-based service delivery
- Digital and data
- Gender and equity
Our strategic goals to deliver impact
The Foundation’s vision is a world in which no person is needlessly blind or vision impaired. Our ultimate goal therefore is to reach zero prevalence of avoidable blindness and vision impairment, with a focus on equity.
To deliver maximum impact, our work is driven by four key impact goals:
- Effective cataract treatment is accessible to all
- Trachoma is eliminated
- Effective refractive error prevention and treatment is accessible to all
- Diabetic retinopathy and other eye conditions can be affordably managed
Our strategic goals to drive success
Successfully achieving our long-term goal is dependent on how we function as an organisation.
We need to be able to fund our activities, operate effectively and contribute an overall benefit to the sector.
We have set goals to ensure we are performing at the optimal level to maximise our resources and impact. These are:
- We inspire and mobilise a growing base of supporters world wide
- We attract diverse new major funding sources to The Foundation
- We deliver with outstanding performance through a committed workforce, dynamic culture and efficient operations
- We build a network of synergy with entities, partners and associated organisations
The inspiring challenges that amplify our impact
To deliver our long term goals we have identified bold and inspiring challenges that will amplify our impact.
The challenges that inspire us are:
- Clearing the cataract backlog
- Closing the gap
- Achieving gender equity
- Finally eliminating trachoma
Together with our supporters and partners we are committed to making a difference and are inspired by these great initiatives that change people’s lives.
The principles underpinning our strategy
- Our commitment to international frameworks
- Response to climate change
- Who we seek to serve
- Where we seek to serve
- How we seek to serve
Photographer: Peter Solness
...