Sightsavers is an international non-governmental organisation that works with partners in developing countries to treat and prevent avoidable blindness, and promote equality for people with visual impairments and other disabilities.
[7] Between 1950 and 2018, Sightsavers had distributed over 1 billion treatments to prevent potentially debilitating diseases [8] and supported 7.3 million sight-restoring cataract operations.
In the late 1960s, an experiment was launched in Katsina, Nigeria to determine whether blind children could be educated in local schools with the assistance of itinerant teachers.
In 1987, Blue Peter launched the ‘Sight Savers’ appeal, raising over £2 million for eye care across Africa, and RCSB subsequently adopted the title Sightsavers.
The year also saw the launch of Vision 2020, a joint initiative with the World Health Organization and 19 international eye care organisations, including Sightsavers.
In 2012, Sightsavers led a consortium to set up the Global Trachoma Mapping Project, funded by the UK Department for International Development.
In December 2018, the campaign's main goal was achieved (for the UK government to publish a disability strategy outlining how it would ensure global aid was disability-inclusive).
The campaign relaunched as Equal World in 2019, with a broader global call for the United Nations and its member states to uphold disability rights.
Sightsavers designed a method in 2017 based on professionally researched guidelines that has led to a massive increase in civic engagement of persons with disabilities in Senegal and Cameroon.
In cooperation with two national federations of OPDs, the accessibility of electoral processes and to empower persons with disabilities to actively participate in local governance has been improved.