2020 Through the Eyes of VisionSpring’s Monitoring and Evaluation Team

As public health professionals, Dr. Sonia Pant and I, Susan Bergson, apply decades of experience in HIV; tuberculosis; reproductive, maternal and child health; and emergency response, into the more focused world of vision access programs. Together we run VisionSpring’s M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) unit. After a whirlwind year, we’re sharing some of our experiences.

Dr. Sonia Pant

Susan Bergson

Hasen Taj in Karnataka receiving a Door to Door COVID-19 Awareness kit.

In early March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic and it became evident that the course of our personal and professional lives would change. Suddenly Dr. Pant’s medical training and our combined experience with infectious diseases were of chief importance. We, alongside our committed colleagues, sprinted to educate, train and protect VisionSpring staff (and their families) against the rapidly spreading virus, to support the organization’s shift to providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to healthcare partners, and reimagine what a new normal for vision screening programs might look like.

Murali Saha Sethi, a farmer from Laxminarayanpur, a village near Cuttack in the eastern state of Odisha receiving a kit.

VisionSpring’s core mission is not focused on pandemic or emergency response. As such, the social enterprise could have been paralyzed if programs were put on indefinite hold. The organization did the opposite – and our staff took action from wherever we were; me, working from a kitchen table in the Netherlands, juggling homeschooling (in Dutch, nonetheless) for two young daughters and Sonia in Delhi NCR during India’s first and most stringent lockdown measures with her husband – a government worker – on long missions away to understand the virus and it’s spread. We joined colleagues in New York, many in the absolute epicenter of the epidemic in the United States, and others on the African continent who were not yet affected.

I’ll never forget April 10th - Good Friday - as we rolled out VisionSpring’s first COVID-safety training, which Sonia led in Hindi. It lasted nearly 4 hours because participants, understandably, had many questions. I was listening intently to catch words in English and to respond effectively to questions Sonia translated for me. Our staff were eager for information and wanted to work. Distribution of hygiene kits complete with soap, masks, and counseling materials; PPE ordered through a pooled procurement model and sent to healthcare partners globally; handwashing stations; and, careful discussion and realignment of each step of our vision screening process became our daily tasks. And throughout all of these changes, we were trusted and supported by donors and institutional partners who recognized our willingness to lean in.

Bhagyashree Surve, a farmer from Warud village near Yavatmal in Mharashtra after receiving a COVID-hygiene kit from the VisionSpring team.

At each juncture, evidence-based decision-making and data were emphasized. Did we have the right knowledge to take the next step? Could we collect data to inform (and in some cases, force us to re-evaluate) our assumptions?

By May, we had an opportunity to integrate a rapid assessment of COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices into a door-to-door campaign. Our coworkers across India were immediately engaged and energized, gaining permission from local authorities, working within the constraints of their individual geographic lockdown areas, distributing hygiene kits, providing counseling, and leveraging interactions to administer a short survey – which resulted in more opportunities for counseling.

In just two weeks, 5,924 responses were collected. Analysis and results from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are shared below, and they deeply informed VisionSpring’s activities to develop COVID-safe vision screening guidelines, and to provide PPE, masks, and hand hygiene stations for partners.

2020 was a year we could have never expected, and yet one full of data and insights that will continue to inform how we work with the communities we serve. Thank you to the entire team for jumping on board with us. Here’s to a fruitful and safe 2021!