The EL VIDI Consortium aims to eliminate visual disabilities in Afghanistan within 3 years by providing "Focusspec" spectacles. The "Focusspec" is an innovative, self-adjustable spectacle developed in the Netherlands that can provide vision correction without medical expertise. The consortium hopes to first make the spectacles available in Uruzgan Province then establish local production in Afghanistan to serve the country and nearby regions. The Dutch government and other organizations are being engaged for support to launch and scale up the initiative.

1. A New Consortium aims to ELiminate VIsual DIsabilities in Afghanistan (EL VIDI)
A New Consortium called EL VIDI has set challenging ambitions to eliminate visual
disabilities in Afghanistan. The target is to reach the Afghan population with refractive
issues within the next 3 years and provide them with the “Focusspec”, an absolutely new
and highly innovative self adjustable spectacle developed by a Dutch entrepreneur.
The need for the “Focusspec”
In the remote areas of Afghanistan, such as Uruzgan, the majority of the population do not have access to vision
correction because of the lack of a sufficient (refractive and healthcare) infrastructure. The lack of vision correction
services undermines literacy, productivity, earning power and causes a variety of health and socio-economic
problems. Building a refractive infrastructure is expensive because of the (complete) lack of specialists, staff and
equipment. The WHO states in their Vision 2020 program: “One billion refractive errors worldwide remain
uncorrected that result in 6 million blind people (10% of total number of blind people worldwide) and 100 million
people that suffer from irreparable visual impairment.”
The EL VIDI Consortium’s mission and program
The EL VIDI Consortium developed a program for Afghan entrepreneurs and professionals in order to build a
sustainable local market for the spectacles. In the first phase Uruzgan is pinpointed to start working towards an
Afghanistan wide set-up. The second stage of the program aims at building a full assembly and production facility
for the Focusspec on a central location in Afghanistan. This will open the perspective for exporting spectacles to
neighboring countries such as Iran and Pakistan. Consortium participants are Focus on Vision and Van der Plasse
IMC. An Afghan partner will soon join in.
Support from Dutch Government
The ideas of the EL VIDI Consortium are being discussed with several representatives from the Dutch Government
and supporting agencies. The Consortium will soon forward a project plan to the Fund for Economic Development
Uruzgan to get support for the start & roll out of activities. The Ministry of Defense has recently awarded a
contract to Focus on Vision to supply a considerable number of Focusspecs to Uruzgan. Although this is separate
project, it is regarded as an excellent starting point for the Consortium’s initiative to roll out their implementation
plan and provide some pilot project experiences.
Focus on Vision
Vision 2020 is WHO’s global initiative for the elimination of avoidable blindness. Focus on Vision Foundation fully supports and
wants to make a contribution towards this. The focus has been especially on developing countries where serious (refractive)
problems exist for which Focus on Vision has developed the Focusspec. It offers adjustable power between +0,5 to +4,5 dpt and
-1,0 to -5,0 dpt without needing an optician or any other medical infrastructure. The Focusspec is a genuinely Dutch innovation.
It is an affordable, user-friendly, robust, self-adjustable spectacle, applicable to a large population. It has won several design
prizes and can be produced in large quantities on customer demand.
Van der Plasse IMC
This company has a strong track record in international business development and project management. The mission of Van der
Plasse IMC is to create sustainable business in difficult environments. Chris van der Plasse, together with business partner
Dennis Havermans, has developed a Private Sector Development concept in which the mission of Focus on Vision will result in a
significant improvement for the Afghan people and will build meaningful business for Afghan entrepreneurs.
For further information please contact:
Mr. Jan in ’t Veld, Telephone +31 412 658 111 or +31 625 060 444 or mail to intveld@focus-on-vision.org.
| www.focus-on-vision.org
Mr. Chris van der Plasse, Telephone +31 624 677 888 or mail to chris@vanderplasse-interim.com