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 eye care beneficiaries by 2020. We are proud to announce that we exceeded our goal, reaching more than 11 million beneficiaries by the end of 2020!
Now, L’OCCITANE and its Foundation have 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.
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 4 million children in Bolivia, Myanmar, and Papua New Guinea. 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
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 to eradicate onchocerciasis and trachoma in the Cascades region.
More recently, the Foundation also focused on children, signing two partnership agreements with the Association Soeur Emmanuelle and the NGO Helen Keller International. The main goal of these two-year partnerships is to prevent childhood blindness through raising awareness among parents and teachers and through eye screenings and treatments when needed.
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
Every year, 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 2021-2022 Call for Projects is currently closed. You can find out more about the Call for Projects and this year selected projects on the Foundation's website and social media.
Supported Projects
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