OneDollarGlasses – Affordable eye care for all

OneDollarGlasses is a social enterprise that has developed a “help-yourself” approach to enable people in economically weak regions to manufacture and market eyeglasses locally. The manufacturing costs are kept low enough so that even the poorest can afford the glasses. The basis is a pair of glasses that can be produced cheaply by local micro-enterprises with from four simple components.

“Over the year, our 2021 teams were able to provide eyeglasses to approximately 73,000 people, perform over 200,000 vision screenings, and provide cataract surgery to over 1,500 people. Many of them were able to see properly for the first time in their lives.” Martin Aufmuth, Founder EinDollarBrille

EinDollarBrille e.V. is currently training local specialists in eight countries to manufacture and distribute the one-dollar glasses and, in cooperation with ophthalmologists and opticians, has developed a training concept that enables the local teams to reliably find the best possible spherical lens during the eye test. After “start-up” funding to set up the structures for manufacturing and sales, the project is self-sustaining. Disadvantaged groups, such as the physically disabled, are also actively integrated in the training of the manufacturers and sellers of the OneDollarGlasses. The latest version of the bending machine is designed so that it can even be operated by blind people.

OneDollarGlasses is currently in a rebranding process and has introduced – initially for the USA – the new name GOOD VISION, which also expresses the organization’s mission well.