- How we Help
- Where we work
- Asia
- Caribbean
- East Africa
- Southern Africa
- West Africa
- Our Successes
- Achievements
- Last years highlights
- People we've helped
- Eliminating the problem
- Demonstrating success
- Village Vision
- Mohammad's New Business
- Protecting a Child's Future
- Restoring Sight in Bangladesh
- Top of the Class
- Africa without river blindness
- Hakim's Story
- Reaching more children
- Abdoulie's Story
- Talking to Angeline Akai
- Mama's Independance
- Lasoi's Story
- Saving Sight
- Kaduna State
- Caught in Time
- Learn More
Ophthalmic Nurse Mrs. Mary Wonneh talking to pupils about the importance of sun glasses on World Sight Day. © Ramatu Massaquoi \ Sightsavers
Advocacy
Sightsavers campaigns to change the policies and practices that impact on people who are blind and visually impaired, and deny millions of people the right to good quality eye care and education.
Our projects help tens of thousands of people each year. Yet, there is potential to reach many more by influencing policy decisions with our campaigning work.
Advocacy is about influencing people, policies, structures and systems to bring about change. It is about influencing key decision-makers and those in power to act in more equitable ways, holding them to account, and empowering people to speak for themselves.
Sightsavers has a Global Advocacy Team responsible for ensuring that the issues of eye health, disability and the rights of individuals with visual impairments are at the forefront of government discussions and budget allocations.
Advocacy is an increasingly important part of our work, usually working with our partners or other coalitions to ensure our voice is as effective as possible. We have found that advocacy - based on the solid work we do in our programmes - has a profound and long lasting impact.
Our advocacy work involves influencing others to support our cause; whether this is a government department within the UK or a local, regional or national government department in one of the countries where we operate. We work in collaboration with a range of local, national and international initiatives and coalitions.
We campaign for children with disabilities to be included in mainstream schools, for adults who are blind to be supported to live independently, and for eye health to be given the attention it deserves in government budgets. In order to influence governments to affect change, we have to ensure we provide adequate evidence, research and policy documentation illustrating that the issues we are concerned with need serious consideration.
In the long term, our successful advocacy work will enable us to save more sight, prevent more blindness, and support more disabled people around the world.
