Caring for Sight

L’OCCITANE has been caring for sight for more than 20 years, supporting projects and initiatives to combat avoidable blindness. This commitment involves multiple partnerships with NGOs worldwide and supports screening, treatment, and eye surgery projects, as well as the funding of equipment and medical staff training. 
In 2022, the brand and its Foundation reached their goal of 15 million eye care beneficiaries. The new goal for 2025 is to reach 20 million beneficiaries worldwide.

Context

In 2020, over 1,1 billion people in the world who were blind or visually impaired and at least 1 billion more needed on-going access to eye care services. However, 90% of vision loss cases are preventable or treatable.

According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (AIPB), 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 (screenings, eyeglasses, treatments, eye surgeries, but also purchase of equipment and training of health professionals).

Without significant investment, vision loss is expected to affect 1.8 billion people by 2050, and more than half of the world's population will likely require ongoing, regular access to eye care.

The L'OCCITANE Foundation has been a member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness since 2016. This membership allows us not only to expand our network of interlocutors, to inspire and be inspired by good practices in terms of prevention of blindness, and to feed us with international recommendations, but also to benefit from expertise for the selection of relevant projects for the benefit of communities

 

Find out more about the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness

L'OCCITANE's Commitment

At L'OCCITANE, we want to live in a world where everyone can see and experience the beauty that nature has to offer. That's why Caring For Sight is one of L'OCCITANE's six commitments and plays a central role in everything we do.  In 1997, Braille was added to the packaging of all products, and this is still the case today. Every year since 2000, L'OCCITANE has sold a new solidarity product to raise funds to help its partners fight avoidable blindness around the world. In 2006, the L'OCCITANE Foundation was created to bring together and develop the philanthropic actions undertaken by the brand since its inception, including support for eye care projects. L'OCCITANE, its subsidiaries and its Foundation have already helped 15 million people and have set a goal of reaching 20 million beneficiaries by 2025. 

 

UNICEF, a major international partner

In 2017, L’OCCITANE and its Foundation embarked on a major international partnership with UNICEF. This three-year partnership guaranteed a minimum of one million euros a year and has helped in the prevention of childhood blindness of more than 6 million children in Bolivia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea (and in Niger). This has been done 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

The Foundation has been supporting projects to fight preventable blindness in Burkina Faso for many years, including those of Light for the World and Sightsavers.
Thanks to our partnership with Light for the World, we support better access to quality eye care, enabling health workers to acquire and strengthen their skills and increasing the capacity of health centers. With Sightsavers, our ambition is to help eliminate onchocerciasis and trachoma, two blinding diseases in the Cascades region.

L'OCCITANE subsidiaries' local partners

The company's subsidiaries also play a crucial role in the brand's commitment to sight. Every year, they are involved in over thirty projects in partnership with charities in the countries where they are based. These projects to combat avoidable blindness, which were historically co-financed by both the subsidiaries and the L'OCCITANE Foundation, are now financed exclusively by the subsidiaries, which thus maintain a special relationship with their local partners

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. In 2021-2022, over 693,812 euros were raised through sales of solidarity products.

^*In-store retail price, excluding taxes and the costs of transportation and production 

Call for Projects closed!

To pursue its commitment and have a greater impact in caring for sight, the L'OCCITANE Foundation is launching a new call for projects to support long-term projects in the territories that need it most.

Supported Projects