Burkina Faso
Since 2013, GoodVision has been continuously offering eye tests and glasses, informing the population about the opportunities of a visual aid and creating secure jobs locally through qualified training.
Glasses issued
vision tests carried out
On-site employees
Program start
Start of the year in Ouagadougou
The new year always starts with a real highlight for the teams in Burkina Faso: the annual kick-off meeting in January. On the one hand, it serves to bring all GoodVision (Burkina Faso) employees together, as many teams work away from Ouagadougou, the country's capital and headquarters of GoodVision in Burkina Faso, throughout the year. Our recertification examinations also take place there.
Quality is important
As part of the theoretical and practical examinations, our ophthalmic specialists (GVTs) prove their expertise by conducting patient interviews and eye tests in frontof everyone. This way, colleagues and supervisors can give feedback and everyone canfor learning. Only those who pass the theoretical and practical finalexamination or the retraining may continue to work. This control is important to ensure a consistent quality of optical care in all parts of the country.
Precarious security situation
Almost every tenth Burkinabe is a refugee within the country. The living conditions of the approximately 2 million internally displaced persons are extremely poor and characterized by hunger, unemployment and housing shortages. Ongoing violence and political uncertainty pose a challenge for our team in Burkina Faso, which can have a massive impact on our work or even bring it to a standstill if, for example, the safety of our employees can no longer be guaranteed.
A strong network
The project manager of GoodVision (Burkina Faso), Thierry Nassouri, is satisfied with the results of 2022 given the extremely tense situation in the country. To keep it that way, he and his team are working to further develop the organization and strengthen our network with the state health system at all levels, associations in the eye sector and other stakeholders in the country. We are also active at local, national and international levels to build connections, leverage resources and effectively minimize costs. To this end, we work with mosques, churches and village leaders.
Achieving more together
We are now also an active member of the "Coalition des ONG internationales intervenant dans le domaine de la santé oculaire au Burkina Faso", which brings together all NGOs working in the field of eye health in Burkina Faso and is closely networked with the Ministry of Health. In September 2022, our team accepted the invitation of the then Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Dr. Albert Ouédraogo, to attend the conference "Humanitarian crisis and security crisis in Burkina Faso". The focus was on the question of how NGOs can help to reduce the negative effects of the crisis.
The meeting with the Prime Minister once again showed me how positively my work affects the population of my country.
