NEW YORK—On World Sight Day today, as the global community focuses its attention on the one billion people who still do not have the eyeglasses they need to see clearly, VisionSpring is announcing a transformative $15 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The gift catalyzes the launch of VisionSpring’s strategic initiative Livelihoods in Focus—a $70 million effort that will create more than $1 billion of new income among tea, coffee, cocoa and artisan workers by 2030, the organization said.

Its goal is to correct the vision of more than 6 million people who work in India, Bangladesh, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda by that year.

"The gift from Ms. Scott is an incredible acknowledgement of the power of a simple pair of eyeglasses to unlock earning, learning, safety and well-being for people vulnerable to poverty,” said CEO of VisionSpring, Ella Gudwin.

 
 Cocoa farmer Regina Quayson (50) hand-pollinating a tree wearing VisionSpring eyeglasses. Hand-pollination is not possible without clear vision, and it increases yield by 110 percent.
  
"And, with this powerful endorsement of our work, we are embarking on a multi-year journey to launch Livelihoods in Focus, addressing the massive vision care gap among agricultural and artisan workers in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. We need many more philanthropic investors, along with governments, companies and NGOs to join in bringing the wonder of clear vision to everyone,” she added.

MacKenzie Scott’s gift is believed to be the largest, single private donation toward solving the problem of uncorrected blurry vision as a poverty intervention. Dr. Jordan Kassalow, founder of VisionSpring, said, "It is a big win for the sector as a whole and all of the organizations working on an issue that has been hiding in plain sight.”

Livelihoods in Focus builds on VisionSpring’s 20 years of experience and robust evidence gathered in the tea-growing region of Assam, India. A rigorous randomized controlled trial there found that a simple pair of eyeglasses lifts productivity by 22 percent to 32 percent among workers.

Laura Hattendorf, senior advisor and former head of Grants and Investments at Mulago Foundation, said, “Eyeglasses and VisionSpring’s approach yields the highest return on donor investment that we have seen across our portfolio. The income created per donor dollar is among the best—if not the best—we’ve ever seen.”

VisionSpring has targeted the tea, cocoa, coffee and artisan communities because the need for vision correction is acute and the work is vision intensive—especially at near distances for tasks such as hand pollination, picking tea, sorting and removing debris from harvests, intricate handcrafted work, and mobile banking.

To date, VisionSpring has provided 8.7 million consumers with the corrective eyeglasses they need to sustain productivity, livelihoods, enhance learning outcomes and overall quality of life. As a result, a cumulative $1.8 billion in increased earning potential has been created at the household level, the organization said.