Eutelsat supports the "One Dollar Glasses” project in Brazil

Eutelsat has chosen to contribute to a project developed by the non-profit association Renovatio to make reading glasses available to rural communities in Brazil at the lowest possible cost.

Set up in 2012, One Dollar Glasses is a German-based association with a single purpose: to provide glasses to 150 million people with sight problems who are living on a dollar a day or less. Its founder, Martin Aufmuth, has created a unique solution: glasses costing less than $1, made out of flexible spring steel frames and prefab lenses that can be made locally with easy-to-use machines.

With growing activities in Latin America and an ambition to empower communities through video and Internet access, it was a natural step for Eutelsat to support the One Dollar Glasses initiative in the region. With a focus on Brazil, nearly 700 pairs of glasses are being donated to rural populations as part of a programme developed by Renovatio, called VerBem (“Good vision” in Portuguese). The programme includes a bus touring to date underpriveleged areas in the state of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, as well as partnerships with three eye clinics and Brazilian medical schools. More than 200 people can be counseled and given eye care every day.

The process is simple and immediate - adults and children with defective vision immediately receive One Dollar Glasses. The results are life-changing, enabling children to progress in school and adults to more easily integrate work environments and improve their quality of life.

More on Renovatio
http://www.renovatio.org.br/

Renovatio is a non-profit organisation that uses One Dollar Glasses technology in Brazil as part of their VerBem initiative. Renovatio integrates socially vulnerable workers, such as homeless, inmates, or refugees to help produce the glasses.

More on One Dollar Glasses
http://www.onedollarglasses.org/

One Dollar Glasses was awarded a Tech Award in November 2015. The Tech Awards is an international awards programme that honours innovators from around the world who apply technology to confront humanity’s most urgent challenges.

Click here to watch Martin Aufmuth’s path to founding One Dollar Glasses and its most recent achievements