Seva Canada turned 30 on April 6, 2012!
Since 1982, Seva Canada has restored sight and prevented blindness in the developing world, giving the power of sight to over 3 million of the world’s poorest people. But what makes Seva different and effective is its unique approach to international development, empowering the people and communities where it works?
“Seva has grown over the past three decades as a force for good. As an innovative technical adviser, funder, and friend. Seva is helping to develop some of the strongest eye care programs in the world." - Larry Brilliant, Seva Founder; President, Skoll Global Threats Fund.
“For 30 years, Seva Canada has supported innovation and been a catalyst for change,” says Dr. Ken Bassett, Seva’s Program Director. Over 200 million people could see tomorrow if they had access to glasses or cataract surgery. These are staggering numbers,” says Dr. Bassett. “Imagine 6x the population of Canada and every man, woman and child are blind or have severe low vision.”
Seva focuses on achieving long-term change to improve the lives of individuals and their community now and in the future. “Success to Seva comes when foreign intervention is not needed at all. It involves a lot of planning, coordination with local partners, and ongoing research. With development, the goal is to build local capacity and sustainability through training local doctors and providing technology and supplies so that the work continues on an on-going basis even after Seva is no longer involved,” said Penny Lyons, Executive Director of Seva Canada.
While the challenge is great, Seva has a tremendous record of success, such as principle partner Aravind Eye Care System in India. Thirty years ago, Aravind started with 11 beds and now it is the world’s largest eye care program performing 250,000 cataract surgeries per year. Aravind demonstrated how cost recovery could be turned into financial self-sufficiency by pioneering a model of high volume, high quality care in which fees charged to those who can afford them subsidizes free or low-cost care for those who cannot.
Seva now adapts this successful model for its programs in other countries around the world. Seva’s innovative sustainability model of enabling communities to care for their own now and in the future through the transfer of knowledge and support means that when someone donates $1 to a program its value is actually much greater.
Imagine planting a seed. The seed grows into a tree that then seeds other trees, then a forest, all from the same dollar donation. That $1 helps provide eye care in the present and in the future, it keeps on working for the individual and the community.
Seva was founded by an eclectic group of professors, health professionals, members of the Centers for Disease Control and activists including; Dr. Larry Brilliant, one of the World Health Organization members who successfully eradicated smallpox in India and current president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, spiritual teacher Ram Dass, and American entertainer and peace activist Wavy Gravy. The first sizable donation to help Seva in India and do a survey of blindness in Nepal came from the then unknown technology genius Steve Jobs.
Seva 30 years ago
Seva Canada could not have achieved what it has over the last 30 years without the dedication and support from passionate donors and committed partner.
