2022 Annual Report

On the image: Dr. Palavi R., an ophthalmologist at our partner M. M. Joshi Eye Institute, checks in with 68-year-old Ashok who just received eye surgery.

MESSAGE FROM OUR
PRESIDENT & CEO

2022 was indeed a year of success in our mission to prevent blindness and restore sight. Despite a challenging global climate, we exceeded our fundraising goals and were able to relaunch all community projects that had been halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, we brought eye health screening and life-changing eye care to those who needed it most, strengthened health systems and empowered communities to take ownership of their eye health.

2023 marks six decades of global community for Operation Eyesight, and our work is more important than ever before.

Eye health does not happen in isolation. It is closely linked with other determinants of health. That is why we are increasingly focused on whole-person health, as well as the health of entire communities.

As we set our sights on the next 60 years, how do we make avoidable blindness a thing of the past? By continuing to learn from local communities to address the root causes of vision loss. This means listening and responding to their unique needs, preferences and goals, as well as empowering people to create local solutions. As we expand our services into new countries and communities, our learning journey continues.

Whether you have been supporting our work since 1963 or recently joined our global community, I would like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU. Together, we are transforming lives – For All The World To See!  

With gratitude,

Kashinath “Kash” Bhoosnurmath
President & CEO
Operation Eyesight Universal

SETTING THE STANDARD
IN GLOBAL EYE HEALTH

Our vision is global, but our sights are set on creating sustainable, local solutions that connect patients and families with quality eye health care and with their larger health system as well. Our approach:

• Local partnerships
  We train community health workers who provide eye screenings and health education within their own communities. We also establish local vision centres that provide comprehensive eye examinations, prescription eyeglasses and specialist referral.

• Strengthening health systems
  By training local staff and investing in equipment and infrastructure, we improve access to quality eye health care within existing health systems. Through our partnerships with governments and hospitals, we help patients access eye care that is affordable or often free of charge.

• Beyond eye health
  Through school eye health programs, water and sanitation projects, and public health education, we address the root causes of avoidable blindness, such as poverty, poor sanitation and gender inequality.

YOUR IMPACT IN 2022

WHERE WE WORK

With ongoing support from donors like you, we will scale our efforts to reach more people in our current countries of work and in new countries as well.

• Countries with existing programs
• Countries we are expanding to
• * We also have plans to develop programs for medically underserved communities in Canada.

SIX DECADES OF
LIFE-CHANGING EYE HEALTH

2023 marks six decades of our sightsaving work. Together with our global community of supporters, we are transforming lives through the Gift of Sight.

THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP

Dr. Ben Gullison, the inspiration

Art Jenkyns, founder

Art Jenkyns and Dr. Ben Gullison work started as a partnership between generous Canadian donors and compassionate Indian physicians. Today, partnership continues to make our work possible, through resources, knowledge and expertise:

Leading quality and innovation – Partnerships with eye institutes like the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) help us drive training of eye health personnel as well as quality improvement work at other partner hospitals.

Local solutions – Partnering with ministries of health and education in our countries of work, as well as 70+ partner hospitals, allows us to integrate eye health care into local health systems and create systemic change.

Technical and financial partners – Through funding and implementation partnerships with groups like the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Child Blindness Program, CBM Christian Blind Mission, Sightsavers and Optometry Giving Sight, as well as like-minded companies like Vision Group Canada, we are magnifying our impact.

A common purpose – International cohorts like the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH), Cooperation Canada and the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC), enable us to share learnings and contribute to a body of knowledge that is helping make avoidable vision loss a thing of the past.

To our many partners worldwide – thank you for being part of our global community!

STORIES

Four generations of giving

Making eye care part of health systems

Sustainable impact through community partnership

Community input helps bring new educational materials to life

Beauty in the eye of the beholder

Eye surgery saved a little girl’s life

THE SAFE WAY TO END TRACHOMA

Trachoma is a bacterial infection that causes the eyelashes to turn inwards, causing painful scarring of the cornea, leading to permanent blindness if left untreated. The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people globally require immediate treatment to treat blinding trachoma.

We are implementing the World Health Organization’s SAFE strategy to eliminate trachoma in Ethiopia, Kenya and Zambia.

Surgery to treat trachomatous trichiasis – In 2022, we broke ground on the construction of the operating theatre at the Iten Eye Unit in Kenya. The facility will provide the space and equipment needed to provide quality eye surgeries to treat a variety of eye conditions, including trachoma.

Antibiotics to clear infection – In 2022, as part of a historic cross-border collaboration between the governments of Tanzania and Kenya, we helped distribute antibiotics to more than 1.3 million people on both sides of the Kenya-Tanzania border. The mass drug administration is aimed at helping eliminate trachoma among the semi-nomadic people living in the region.

Facial cleanliness and hygiene education – In 2022, we rehabilitated 122 water boreholes like this one in Kapiri Mposhi District in Zambia, bringing clean water to communities across sub-Saharan Africa. We also established local Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) committees. These groups maintain the boreholes and educate communities about the importance of hygiene and sanitation in the prevention of trachoma and other diseases. In Ethiopia, we worked with five schools to provide WASH training as well as resources and education around menstrual hygiene.

Environmental improvements such as wells and latrines – From constructing pit latrines and wastewater channels to rehabilitating water boreholes like this one in Zambia’s arid Sinazongwe District, the generosity of our donors in 2022 led to improved health and quality of life for communities across sub-Saharan Africa.

FINANCIALS

Despite a challenging economic environment both in Canada and globally, our total revenues increased by 35 per cent in 2022, as donations reached their highest level in the past decade. Thanks to the generosity and loyalty of our long-term donors, our increased revenues were bolstered by a rise in legacy gifts, which surpassed $1 million – nearly three times the amount we received through bequests and life insurance premiums in 2021.

Grants represented nearly a third of revenues in 2022. The growth in grant-related funding we received in 2022 is helping diversify our funding and will bolster our financial stability.

2022 was a pivotal year for many international development organizations and Operation Eyesight was no exception. With the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, we were able to relaunch international programs that had been halted by the pandemic. As a result, our overall expenditures increased by nearly 40 per cent in 2022. These represented mid- to longer-term investments in community programs and projects, and we expect this to translate into more lives impacted by the Gift of Sight in subsequent years. Thanks to increased revenues, our 2022 expenditures were proportionate to revenues for the year, and we generated a small surplus.

This has positioned us to continue expanding our programs in both existing and new countries of work, so we can bring quality, affordable eye health care to more people than ever before in 2023 and beyond.

Thank you for your generous support!

DONORS ($5,000+)

Our work would not be possible without the compassion of our global community. We are grateful to all of our donors – including legacy donors, annual donors, major donors, institutional funders and 677 monthly donors – for their ongoing support. Due to space limitation, we are listing donors who gave $5,000 or more.