WHAT WE DO

Each year, Seva-supported programs serve hundreds of thousands of people in the developing world. Thousands of children receive care to prevent blindness. And thousands of people are given cataract surgery to restore their eyesight.

How does a small organization like Seva make such a big impact? We focus on helping communities develop their own sustainable, high-quality, and most importantly, affordable eye care services.

For over 27 years, Seva Canada has focused on solutions that come from within the communities we serve, while providing the technical support and resources that build self-sufficient enterprises.

Rather than building our own eye hospitals or flying-in teams of Western doctors to provide these valuable eye-care services, Seva works in partnership with existing local programs and institutions. We create sustainable programs that deliver eye-care services to many people in need.

We work with local partners to help them build clinics, train staff, and produce low-cost surgical supplies and eyeglasses – and our outreach programs make sure people know how to connect with the care they need. Together, we’re pioneering new ways to make eye care accessible to everyone.

Seva's eye care work emphasizes research, service and evaluation of community-based methods to provide cataract surgery treatments and other eye care of high quality, high volume and low cost.

Seva is particularly concerned about addressing the gender imbalance in blindness and to ensure that eye care is accessible to women and girls, who otherwise may not receive the much-needed eye care.

Seva Canada works with partners in the following countries:

• India (since1982)
• Nepal (since 1982)
• Tibet (since 1995)
• Tanzania and eastern Africa (since 2001)
• Egypt (since 2008)
• Guatemala (since 2008)
• Cambodia (since 2008)

View the following short video for an overview of what we do. Note that this video was created prior to the addition of Egypt, Guatemala and Cambodia to our country programs: