When I was a junior in high school, I couldn’t make out what was written on the blackboard anymore. I had gone from having 20/12 vision - the best the nurse had ever seen - to sitting in the ophthalmologist’s office to get my first pair of glasses. The glasses only lasted a month before I got contact lenses, but it was still awkward to pull out my glasses at the beginning of each class. The glasses and contacts made a huge difference in every day life, and they also helped me lift my batting average on the baseball team from .000 the year before to .448. I didn’t like that I needed them, but I had to learn to deal with it. In retrospect, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to get excellent vision care. The Scojo Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides glasses and vision care to people in developing countries who would otherwise struggle to get by.
For me being nearsighted (having trouble seeing things that are far away) was a big problem, but for many people in the world farsightedness is a much more pressing problem. These people may work with their hands on tasks that require a certain level of visual acuity. If they can’t see what they’re doing, they can’t make enough money to survive. The Scojo Foundation is working in El Salvador, India, Guatemala, and Bangladesh to make it easier for people to see by providing them with a simple pair of reading glasses. Now, Scojo could just go across the world giving away reading glasses and be done with it; however, they’ve come up with an amazing way to amplify the beneficial effects of their charity.
The Scojo Foundation has taken a unique approach to solving vision problems across the world. They have equipped “low-income men and women living in rural villages” to provide glasses to the public - as a business. These Scojo Vision Entrepreneurs are “trained to conduct vision screenings within their communities, sell affordable reading glasses, and refer those who require advanced eye care to reputable clinics.” The Scojo Foundation’s approach to market failure is very different from that of most non-profits, but it appears to be wildly successful. The Foundation can provide reading glasses for a dollar a pair, so Vision Entrepreneurs are able to sell glasses at a significant profit. In fact, one pair of glasses sold typically creates double the individual’s previous daily income.
The Scojo Foundation occasionally offers opportunities across the world, but right now it looks like the only internships opportunities are in New York City or somewhere in Asia (they don’t specify). Their Job Openings and Internships page doesn’t provide much more information than the fact that opportunities are “generally available,” whatever that means. This means that getting an internship with Scojo might take a bit more initiative than other internships, but it’s certainly worth it. Use the links below to start your research, and also be sure to look at this profile of a former Scojo Foundation intern. You can also contact Graham Macmillan at gmacmillan@scojofoundation.org to request more information or to apply.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
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Tags: Internships, non-profit, social entrepreneurship, vision
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Thanks for this informative post. Scojo Foundation has recently changed its name to VisionSpring and its website is now located at http://www.visionspring.org.
Thanks Miriam!