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Rotarians Ophthalmic Initiative
(ROI) 1. They see the benefits of matching grants, but do we? Press release via RIBI dated 14th Feb 2007 see http://www.rotary-ribi.org/committees/report-details.asp?ribiCtteeRepID=619&rscID=26
With a focus on less developed countries, Stevenage Grange RC, District 1260 encourages all Clubs, ISC and District Foundation Chairs to use the benefits of matching grants to help make blindness history for many.
Encouraged by others, Stevenage Grange has expanded its Rotarians Ophthalmoscope Initiative (ROI) to arrange cataract (IOL) surgery, vitamin A supplements and other eye-care treatments, when embraced by an eligible RI TRF Matched funded grant application.
Widely promoted by Rotarian list servers and bulletin boards around the globe, the ROI team are pulling together a host of prospective avoidable blindness projects, and some potential funders, as their contribution to World Sight Day 2007.
The ‘Grange’ has provided a worked model based on an opportunity currently being discussed by a Norfolk Rotary Club, showing how a legacy of £640 could be turned into a return of some £7,760 given certain assumptions. The model can be found at this link www.roisight.org/main/page17cfp.html
Originally designed to encourage mass screening in remote locations by trained, but less scarce qualified ophthalmic personnel, the ROI team will now broker host and international funding partners. We will guide where required, provide part completed paperwork and provide support through the process to maximise your donations.
For further details contact Stephen Sypula of Stevenage Grange, District 1260 stephen@sgrc.org.uk or visit our web sites www.roisight.org or www.sgrc.org.uk
2. ROI - A change of focus … conditions apply!
Dear fellow Rotarians and friends down under,
ROI has now been restyled the Rotarians Ophthalmic Initiative to better reflect that it is about helping to make blindness history, and not just about shipping equipment, as some have perceived.
Could potential host Clubs/Districts please take on board that following a recent experience, linked matching grant opportunities will only be brokered when the host Club and/or District is prepared to take action to encourage and make available the low cost, award winning, pen sized, Optyse, or equivalent product to mid level staff in remote locations. The Optyse has been invented to support screening by less qualified people in remote heartlands of developing countries, and not just hospitals in cities, town and townships.
We are delighted to say that in a short period of time since we announced the TRF dimension, ROI is being approached to help establish new TRF Matching Grant opportunities to support surgery & other eye-care treatments. We are working hard on that to publish completed profiles of need.
Whilst there are so many deserving causes, would potential applicants please note that ROI cannot support non-sight enabling projects.
We need also to advise that potential applicants should feel comfortable in meeting our one and only condition, reproduced here for convenience from the ROI website … Where an ROI supported TRF grant project is being put together, following a needs assessment, we expect that 10% to 20% of the project value will be applied to make the Optyse™, or equivalent, available to trained people, living or working in remote locations, to undertake preventative general health & eye-care screening programmes.
If you are comfortable with that, and wish to develop an ROI supported matching grant project, we would love to hear from you and help you achieve your goal. With best wishes, Stephen, Stevenage Grange RC, District 1260
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