What if two thin pieces of plastic were all you needed to maintain a life-sustaining job and rise out of poverty — but you lived in a part of the world that didn’t offer vision care, or you didn’t even know eye care existed?
It’s far from uncommon: The World Health Organization says poor vision is one of top three causes of disabilities, affecting about 2.2 billion people worldwide — and about half of those people have preventable or treatable vision problems. People living in poverty are more likely to suffer from poor vision, WHO says. One of those people is Mercy, who lives in a Liberian town of 30,000 people who have little access to water or electricity. Mercy held a string of jobs but always lost them due to “careless” mistakes and was scorned for having no ambition.
But when GoodVision came to her town with free screenings and personalized glasses, Mercy saw a clearer, brighter future in about 15 minutes. She suddenly realized her poor vision was all that had been holding her back.
We spoke to GoodVision Executive Director Matt Gianino to find out more about the nonprofit’s mission.
Question: Martin Aufmuth conceived the idea for GoodVision in 2012 after learning that one of the most impactful solutions for developing countries was providing a pair of affordable glasses to people living on less than $1 a day. He shaped his idea, created a bending machine to make wire frames — and GoodVision was born. How do customers living in extreme poverty continue to impact what you do?
Answer: Stories like Mercy’s aren’t exceptional; they’re the norm in communities without vision care. For instance, think about a child whose vision problems prevent them from attending or succeeding in school. In a Johns Hopkins study, the lowest-performing of those children who received glasses gained two to four extra months of learning in a single year. Consider the farmers who can’t identify crop diseases, factory workers who fail quality control and vendors who can’t accurately count money. Researchers say people with moderate to severe vision impairment are 30.2% more likely to be unemployed. Vision loss costs the global economy $411 billion annually in lost productivity, but the human cost goes deeper. Adults with vision impairment have higher rates of depression and anxiety. In many cultures, the stigma of a vision disability limits marriage prospects and social standing or cause people to withdraw from community participation.
Question: Is GoodVision a pop-up shop that drops in and leaves shortly?
Answer: Absolutely not. The lived experience and the voices of the people GoodVision serves are at the center of all we do. We hear their stories because we get to know our customers. We learned early on that many well-intended nonprofits arrive in a community with a team of volunteer opticians who do amazing work for a few weeks, donate glasses and then leave. What happens when someone needs their glasses repaired or has a family member with a vision issue a few weeks later? GoodVision is building something different.
Martin Aufmuth’s desire to provide glasses had a more long-term view of communities — how it could have ripple effects. We create permanent local vision care capacity with locally hired and trained professionals who become skilled vision care technicians. The glasses in that community are manufactured on-site, providing careers to community members in places where jobs are scarce. To date, we have over 530 employees delivering quality vision care in communities that often have never even had access to any kind of health care. These technicians become community health leaders, small business owners and better providers for their family — proof that sustainable development creates much stronger and sustainable social development solutions.
By meeting our customers and getting to know the area, we work hard to integrate our model into existing systems. In Burkina Faso, our team developed a 1,284-hour training program that received official government recognition as the national standard. In Brazil, we’re integrated into São Paulo’s municipal health system, serving all 420,000 children in their public schools.
Question: How do you make the glasses, and how do you keep the process sustainable?
Answer: Martin learned early that the most under-resourced communities needed vision care solutions that matched their infrastructure. Sophisticated supply chains and eyeglass factories just don’t work in communities with no paved roads and electricity. The portable, backpack-size bending machine he created requires zero electricity and uses medical-grade stainless steel spring wire to create frames in minutes for less than $1 in material costs, and they won’t break or rust and are easily bent back into shape if damaged. After only a couple of weeks’ training, a local manufacturer can create over 100 glasses per week.
Question: The eye exams are free, but you charge for the glasses. How much, and why, since the recipients tend to be poor? How does your funding model work?
Answer: Our local teams in each country determine who pays for glasses and how much. In India, working adults might pay about $8. In Kenya, $5. In rural Bolivia, often less. All children and anyone without income receive glasses free.
The pricing is typically two to three days of local wages — high enough that people value and actually wear their glasses but low enough that it doesn’t create hardship. Research shows adults who pay even small amounts wear their glasses 70% more consistently than those who receive them free.
About one-third of glasses are sold at local market rates, while two-thirds are subsidized or free. This isn’t about extracting money from people in poverty. It’s about building health care systems that can sustain themselves.
The dignity of choice matters as much as the glasses themselves. When Courageous in Malawi saved up for three weeks to buy her glasses, she told me: “These are my glasses. I chose them. I paid for them. And if they break, I know where to go to fix them.” That ownership matters.
The revenue from glasses sales covers approximately 30% of our program budgets and helps pay the salaries of 530+ local technicians. The other 70% comes from foundations, individual donors and corporate partners. With material costs of only $1, joining GoodVision’s community of support is super accessible. Even small donations go a long way to change someone’s life and become meaningfully involved in what we are building.
Question: What is the main point you want to drive home?
Answer: Vision loss is the number one unmet disability in the world. It perpetuates poverty. And unlike many global challenges, it’s completely, affordably solvable. By 2050, the number of people who need glasses but can’t access them is expected surge to 1.8 billion. Yet, the barrier isn’t innovation; it’s access. In fact, we delivered our one-millionth pair of glasses in September.
Every dollar invested in vision care returns $28 in economic benefits. Traditional poverty reduction programs treat income, education and health care as separate problems. Vision correction addresses all three at once. Our goal — for both potential customers and supporters — is to remove barriers and empower communities. The question isn’t “Will this work?” It’s “How fast can we scale it?” And “How many more lives like Mercy’s are you ready to help transform?”
Learn more at www.goodvisionusa.org.
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