Sustainability

At Seva, we look for long-term solutions. Our ultimate goal is for each program we support to become financially self-sufficient without the need to rely on donations or foreign support. This sustainable approach ensures that communities are provided with on-going access to eye care.

Seva works with our program partners to ensure that their institutions have a sustainable human resource model that prioritizes local skilled workers and ongoing training. Another way Seva promotes sustainability is by prioritizing financial self-sufficiency.

Seva’s long-time partner in India, the Aravind Eye Care System, exemplifies how cost recovery can be turned into financial self-sufficiency. Aravind pioneered a model of high volume, high quality care in which services for those who cannot pay are subsidized by fees collected by those who can.

Through the mentoring and knowledge sharing that is central to the Global Sight Initiative, Seva has helped other partners apply this approach with their own programs. By establishing a pricing system for eye care services, we help ensure intuitional financial sustainability for our partners.

This sustainable cost-recovery model means practitioners can provide eye care to patients who cannot afford care immediately, while also ensuring high quality eye care services will continue for many years to come. Because of the success of this model, Seva now adapts this sustainable approach for programs in other countries around the world.