Mozambique Eyecare Project
The Mozambique Eyecare Project (MEP) is a €1.5 million Irish Aid funded project that tackles the interdependent problems of avoidable blindness and poverty. There are an estimated 670 million people, almost exclusively in developing countries like Mozambique, who are visually impaired simply because they have no access to a pair of glasses.
The MEP has developed a sustainable model of North-South cooperation for optometric education and eye-care service delivery in developing nations. The Project is based in the Department of Optometry in the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and University of Lúrio in Mozambique. The MEP’s objective is to to have 170 fully qualified Mozambican optometrists trained to deliver eye care and glasses to millions of visually impaired people in Mozambique by 2020.
Under the direction of Professor James Loughman, the Project set out to achieve this goal by establishing the first degree course in optometry in Mozambique in 2009 and is currently developing vision centres around the country to enhance the accessibility and quality of eye care services provided by its graduates. A faculty development programme is also underway to train local faculty and ensure the programme is entirely indigenously driven by 2017.
In 2013/2014, Vital Communications assisted the MEP in communicating the work that the project had done, including the establishment of the first degree programme in Optometry and its extensive community outreach activity. The Communications strategy included securing national and regional media coverage for the Mozambique Eyecare Project and the management of its social media strategy.
Vital Communications worked up messaging documents and press releases to explain clearly what it was that the Mozambique Eyecare Project did. We started with the explanation of what is an optometrist which was quite a confusing concept for people to grasp. We obtained case studies including former DIT students who had travelled to Mozambique on the Community Outreach Programmes and we secured regional and national media coverage for them including images and details of their work.
Finally, we set up an feature on the work of Irish people in Mozambique on RTE’s Nationwide programme which was broadcast in June 2014. The piece included interviews with the Irish Ambassador and other Irish entrepreneurs working in Mozambique. As part of the programme, Mary accompanied the MEP on its community outreach progamme and interviewed the director of the Project, Prof Loughman. The programme ended up being split into two shows due to the quantity of material provided. As a result Mary Kennedy has been a strong ambassador of the Mozambique Eyecare Project since.
