Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has announced the selection of its 2025 grant program recipients. This year, 24 grants totalling almost $1 million USD have been awarded to 21 organizations for projects that will help eradicate uncorrected refractive error globally.
As Optometry’s International Charity of Choice, OGS raises funds from optometrists, optometry practices, and optometry-related businesses and corporations to award annual grants for sustainable, impactful projects that expand the profession and improve access to vision care in underserved areas of the world. Since the grant program began, OGS has awarded more than 220 grants totalling more than $26 million.
This year’s grantee organizations and projects funded are:
Aden Adde International University
This project will establish a fully equipped eye examination center in Mogadishu, Somalia, providing free exams, affordable glasses and medications, and cataract surgeries. The initiative will also serve as a clinical training site for optometry students—addressing the shortage of skilled professionals and building a stronger eye care workforce. By combining direct service with education, it will reduce preventable blindness and improve visual health outcomes for underserved communities.
African Eye Institute Trust
The African Eye Institute Trust will implement the One School at a Time (OSaaT) program to address the urgent need for school-based eye care in South Africa. With over 22,000 public schools serving predominantly low-income communities, access to vision services remains limited. This initiative brings comprehensive eye screenings, free prescription eyeglasses, and health education directly to schools, eliminating financial and logistical barriers for families.
Berkeley Vision
This project will launch a comprehensive school-based eye health initiative in Jamshoro district, Sindh province, expanding Berkeley Vision’s global “Every Child Sees” campaign to Pakistan. The project aims to eliminate childhood uncorrected refractive error through sustainable, locally led healthcare practices—ensuring that every child has the opportunity to see clearly and thrive.
Brien Holden Vision Institute
This project will expand low vision services in Pakistan by establishing four new clinics, training 15 optometrists, and launching public awareness campaigns to improve access for underserved communities. Building on the Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation’s decade-long presence and its support of 51 clinics to date, the initiative will integrate low vision care into secondary and tertiary hospitals—fortifying the national eye health infrastructure and ensuring long-term continuity of care.
Brien Holden Vision Institute
With support from Optometry Giving Sight, the Brien Holden Foundation is strengthening Vietnam’s eye care system by enhancing two government-run optometry schools—Hanoi Medical University and Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine. This initiative equips Academic Vision Centres with advanced tools, trains faculty and students, and delivers outreach to underserved communities, aiming to reach 10,000 individuals and elevate optometry as a fully recognized profession. Building on a decade of progress, the program promotes sustainability through government partnerships, income-generating clinics, and long-term integration into Vietnam’s public health system.
Canadian Vision Care
This project will strengthen optometry education and expand access to vision care in Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago by equipping university clinics with essential diagnostic tools, supporting faculty development, and facilitating student-led outreach to underserved communities. The initiative will enhance clinical training and elevate the quality and reach of eye care across the Caribbean.
Canadian Vision Care
This project will strengthen the Eye Train initiative in the Philippines by enhancing its capacity to deliver high-volume, high-quality eye care and deepening clinical training for Filipino and Canadian optometry students. With over 120,000 patients served to date, the Eye Train will continue operating as a full-time teaching clinic while expanding outreach during peak training periods, creating immersive learning experiences, and improving access to care in underserved communities.
Charis Vision and Health Mission
This grant will be used to strengthen optometry education and service delivery in Cross River State, Nigeria. This initiative will equip Arthur Jarvis University’s optometry program with essential ophthalmic tools and resources, while expanding access to primary eye care in surrounding underserved communities. The project addresses a critical shortage of trained optometrists in southeastern Nigeria. By enhancing clinical training, launching community outreach, and building local capacity for equipment maintenance, the program lays the foundation for sustainable, high-quality eye care in a region of over 25 million people.
Envision EyeCare for All
This grant will be used by Envision EyeCare for All to expand and strengthen its mobile vision care initiative designed to deliver comprehensive eye health services to marginalized, underserved, and transient populations across rural Oregon. The project funded by the grant – “Eyes on Equity” – addresses systemic inequities in access to vision care by deploying a fully customized commercial mobile unit equipped with full-sized clinical tools. It targets communities historically excluded from primary eye care, including migrant farmworkers, Native American fishing villages, unhoused individuals, and children in low-income households in the counties of Hood River, Wasco, Gilliam, Sherman, and Morrow.
Healing California
This project will expand Healing California’s mobile vision care services across the state, providing free eye exams and prescription glasses to unhoused and underserved individuals facing systemic barriers to care. Through a fleet of mobile clinics and volunteer optometrists, the initiative brings compassionate, high-quality services directly to shelters and outreach sites—restoring not just sight, but dignity and opportunity.
Light for the World International
This project will advance pediatric optometry training in Mozambique as part of a 10-year strategy under the “1, 2, 3, I Can See!” program to build sustainable child eye care within the public health system. The grant will be used to complete the second edition of a specialized pediatric optometry training program, launch a refresher course for local professionals, support three national trainers, and expand access to screenings and subsidized eyeglasses for children in schools and orphanages. Light for the World is an international NGO sparking positive change in eye health and disability rights.
Mission for Vision
This project will establish a permanent Vision Centre in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, delivering comprehensive primary eye care to marginalized communities and helping eliminate preventable blindness. As part of Mission for Vision’s broader strategy, the center will offer screenings, treatment, referrals, and school-based programs, creating a sustainable, community-anchored model for equitable eye care across underserved regions of India.
Nepal Optometry Students’ Society
This project will establish Nepal’s first fully equipped optical laboratory for optometry students, bridging a critical gap in practical training and empowering future eye care professionals with hands-on experience in optics and dispensing. Led by a dynamic student team and supported by faculty from Maharajgunj Medical Campus, the initiative will transform optometric education and strengthen the delivery of quality eye care nationwide.
OPTOGLOBE
This project will launch the pilot phase of “Equipping the Future,” a global initiative by OPTOGLOBE that provides essential optical instruments to optometry students in underserved regions. By supporting students selected for their leadership and advocacy, the program removes barriers to clinical training, empowers community-based care, and strengthens the global optometry workforce.
Queen’s University Belfast
This project will support the foundational phase of revising Zanzibar’s National Eye Care Plan, formally integrating optometry and low vision services into the public health system. Led by Queen’s University Belfast in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the initiative will build consensus, generate evidence, and create a sustainable roadmap for affordable, government-led vision care—marking a shift from fragmented NGO efforts to a nationally owned, systems-level approach.
See Better. Learn Better Jamaica, LTD
This project will expand See Better Learn Better Jamaica’s school-based vision care initiative across Westmoreland and Hanover, delivering essential eye exams, referrals, and eyeglasses to thousands of children while training optometrists from the University of the West Indies and Indiana University in pediatric outreach. Endorsed by Jamaica’s Ministry of Health, the program fills a critical gap in national screening and fosters a new generation of practitioners dedicated to equitable, sustainable care.
Special Olympics
Special Olympics International will use this grant to expand its Opening Eyes program to improve vision care access for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) across Ghana, the U.S., and Latin America. This initiative builds on a long-term strategy to deliver inclusive, high-quality eye health services while training eye care professionals to better treat this underserved population.
University of Cape Coast
This project will launch Opto-SCOPE, a mobile optometric care initiative that provides essential eye services to underserved rural communities in Ghana’s Central Region through the country’s Community-based Health Planning Services compounds. It offers final-year optometry students supervised clinical experience while strengthening local health systems, promoting early detection of vision disorders, and establishing a scalable model for sustainable community-based eye care.
University of Montreal School of Optometry
The grant will be used to launch a mobile optometry teaching clinic that will provide on-site eye care to residents of Pavillon Alfred-Desrochers, a long-term care facility affiliated with the university’s Institute of Geriatrics. Integrating portable diagnostic tools into its fifth-year curriculum, the initiative supports frail seniors with limited mobility while offering students hands-on experience in delivering compassionate, high-quality care to underserved populations.
University of Montreal/International Health Unit
This project will establish and strengthen optometry education in underserved francophone countries by addressing the shortage of trained eye care professionals and improving access to refractive services. The initiative brings together experts in ophthalmology, public health, and academia to develop curricula, plan infrastructure, source equipment, and advocate for sustainable eye health systems. Local academic institutions will serve as implementation partners, ensuring contextual relevance and long-term impact.
University of Montreal/International Health Unit
Developed in collaboration with the School of Optometry at the State University of Haiti (EOH), the project addresses the critical shortage of qualified visual health providers and the treatment of refractive errors in Haiti. By strengthening academic training, clinical capacity, and professional integration, the program expands access to high-quality eye care, particularly in underserved areas. Through structured internships, remote teaching, and faculty development, the program builds a sustainable foundation for the optometry profession in Haiti.
Vision for the Poor
This project will expand Vision for the Poor’s network of sustainable vision centers across the Philippines, improving access to affordable eye care in underserved communities while strengthening optometry education. By upgrading equipment, extending services to new regions, and providing hands-on training through partnerships with hospitals and universities, the initiative equips future practitioners with practical skills in clinical care and outreach.
VOSH California
This project will establish a Specialty Contact Lens Clinic within the Visionary Clinic in Managua, Nicaragua, expanding access to advanced eye care for underserved patients and offering hands-on training to optometry students from the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (a program established in part by funding from Optometry Giving Sight). By introducing affordable scleral and rigid gas-permeable lens fittings for complex conditions like keratoconus, dry eye, and progressive myopia, the initiative fills a critical gap in Nicaragua’s eye care services.
World Council of Optometry
This project will expand the World Council of Optometry’s Optometry Program in Advocacy and Leadership (OPAL) by introducing a new post-graduate track with advanced seminars and mentorship, deepening its global impact. Through a 12-week virtual course, optometrists from six regions will gain the skills to lead sustainable advocacy efforts, influence policy, and promote equitable access to eye care in their home countries.
During the last 22 years, OGS has funded the establishment of 14 optometry schools in areas of need, trained more than 14,000 optometrists and eye care personnel worldwide, established more than 200 vision centers for clinical training and patient care, and served more than 15 million individuals in 70-plus countries.
More information about these projects is available here, including program objectives, expected outcomes, and sustainability measures.
Click HERE for the press release.
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