Caring for Sight
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beneficiaries
L’OCCITANE has been caring for sight for more than 20 years, supporting projects and initiatives to combat avoidable blindness. In 2015, the brand and its Foundation set the goal of reaching 10 million beneficiaries of eye care by 2020. We are proud to announce that we have exceeded our goal as today, we can count more than 11 million beneficiaries of eye care!
To go further in their actions, L’OCCITANE and its Foundation set a new ambitious goal: to reach 15 million eye care beneficiaries worldwide by 2025.
Context
There are currently 1,1 billion people in the world who are blind or visually impaired and at least 1 billion more need on-going access to eye care services. However, 90% of vision loss cases are preventable.
According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, 90% of those with a visual impairment live in low- and middle-income countries. This is due to these countries having limited access to high-quality eye care services.
In 2050, vision loss is likely to affect 1.7 billion and more than half the global population will certainly need regular access to eye care services to optimize their vision.
More information on the IAPB website
L'OCCITANE's Commitment
Given this situation, and to align with L’OCCITANE’s commitment for sight, since its creation in 2006 the Foundation supports international NGOs' actions combatting avoidable blindness. Projects funded contribute to providing high-quality eye care services.
A major international partner
In 2017, L’OCCITANE and its Foundation embarked on a major international partnership with UNICEF. This three-year partnership guaranted a minimum of one million euros a year and has improved the prevention of childhood blindness of more than 4 million children in Bolivia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea by developing vitamin A supplementation programmes: an essential vitamin for children’s immune systems. In 2020, L'OCCITANE and its Foundation renewed this partnership with UNICEF for another three years and extended it across the world to improve the prevention of childhood blindness of more than 3 million new children.
The Foundation's partners in Burkina Faso
For several years, the Foundation has also supported the work combatting avoidable blindness undertaken by the NGOs Light for the World and Sightsavers in Burkina Faso. This includes training ophthalmologists and medical staff, improving access to high-quality eye care services in rural areas, and helping eradicate two diseases in the Cascades region.
Company subsidiaries also play a crucial role in achieving this goal. Every year, they are involved in over thirty projects in partnership with charities in the countries where they are based. These projects combatting avoidable blindness are jointly funded by the subsidiaries and the L’OCCITANE Foundation.
Solidarity products
Finally, to involve consumers in its charitable activity, L’OCCITANE en Provence has brought out a charity product every year since 2000, with profits* going towards combatting avoidable blindness. Over 620,050 euros were raised through sales of 2019 and 2020’s charity soap.
*In-store retail price, excluding taxes and the costs of transportation and production
Call for Projects
The L’OCCITANE Foundation launches a call for projects to fight avoidable blindness and encourages L’OCCITANE’s offices worldwide to participate by identifying and supporting local organizations with eye care projects. These projects are co-financed by L’OCCITANE’s local offices and by the foundation.
The 2020-2021 call for projects is currently closed. A new call is soon to be launched, so we invite you to follow our social networks and our website to be aware of the latest news from our Foundation and its calls for projects.
Supported Projects
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