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  1. FAQs

Our Trustees

The trustees of Vision Aid Overseas have ultimate responsibility in law for the charity, its assets and activities. Our Trustees have a wide variety of backgrounds and experience and bring different skills and expertise to the Board.

They form the Board of Trustees which is the governing body of Vision Aid Overseas and are Directors of Vision Aid Overseas Limited, a Company limited by Guarantee. Our trustees are appointed because of their commitment to Vision Aid Overseas and their experience and skills which enable them to undertake the responsibilities of trusteeship. Our trustees also have a number of members from the optical professions who represent our volunteers.

Dr Ving Fai Chan

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Dr Ving Fai Chan is a Malaysian Optometrist who lectures (Global Eye Health) at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). He completed his master’s degree from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Doctorate in Optometry from the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN).

Having lived and worked in Africa for 10 years, he works to address the persistent grass-root level barriers towards successful eyecare initiatives in low- and middle-income countries. His work focuses on designing and testing innovative and pragmatic approaches to address eye health challenges in resource-constrained countries. He contributed to the establishment of the first School of Optometry in Eritrea, where he lived for 3 years. He then worked as the Research Manager for an international eyecare NGO, primarily studying the impact of spectacle corrections on different populations in Africa to assist advocacy efforts.

In addition to his role at QUB, he is an Honorary Lecturer at UKZN (South Africa), the Research Adviser of the Tanzanian Optometry Association and a member of the WHO Primary Eye Care Intervention Technical Working Group. His current major research studies are in South Africa, Zanzibar, Nigeria, India and China.

Published: 23rd July, 2020

Author: Matthew Bentham

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Dr. Naomi Nsubuga

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Dr. Naomi Nsubuga an optometrist from Uganda with over 25 years of experience working in the eye health sector in a variety of settings in the UK, USA and in Africa. She has worked in the private sector, in hospital-based and public health optometry, as well as in academia. She obtained both Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Optometry degrees from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University in the USA and is a Fellow of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians.

Dr. Nsubuga is a member of the National Prevention of Blindness Committee in Uganda and serves on the Technical, Low Vision and Child Eye Health committees. She has been appointed on committees that developed the National Strategic Eye Health Plan, the Low Vision Guidelines, and the Clinical Guidelines for Eye Health in Uganda. She has served on the Legislation and Education committees of the World Council of Optometry (WCO) and is currently on the Public Health Committee of the African Council of Optometry (AFCO). She is one of the founders and is the current President of the Optometrists Association of Uganda (OAU).

Dr. Nsubuga has 15 years of experience working as a Regional Programme Manager for an international NGO managing community eye health projects in Eastern Africa in 5 countries namely Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. She has experience working with donors and governments. She has worked with government institutions to lobby for the training, recognition, regulation, and creation of posts for optometry in the public sector; strengthening refractive error services; child eye health services and health systems strengthening. She has managed a variety of projects in areas of Human Resource Development (optometry development, workforce development), Infrastructure development, Child Eye Health, School Eye Health and Comprehensive Eye Health. Dr. Nsubuga is currently an optometry lecturer at Makerere University College of Health Sciences, a Low Vision and Child and School Eye Health advisor and consultant to the Ministries of Health and Education as well as organisations working in Uganda.

Published: 23rd September, 2020

Author: Matthew Bentham

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Ian Kerr

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Ian has been involved in fundraising and overseas aid and development since starting ActionAid, one of Europe’s larger NGO’s, usually in fundraising or project development roles. These have taken him to 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He has recently served on the international board of The Brooke and their affiliate  boards in India and Pakistan and until 2020 chaired Virtual Doctors, a health charity working in East Africa.

Ian was one of the UK’s most experienced fundraisers winning the Consultant of the Year award and helped set up the Institute of Fundraising and served on the board of the Association of Fundraising Consultants. He designed successful appeals for Deafblind UK, Orbis and Talking Newspapers. Ian has been  a Fellow of both the British Institute of Management and the  Administrative Accounting Institute. Since retiring he has been an volunteer ambassador for VisionCare for the homeless in Brighton, a trustee of Raystede Animal Sanctuary, socialised a hearing dog and he plays tennis and walks his dogs daily.

Published: 23rd July, 2020

Author: Matthew Bentham

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Jane Smith - Treasurer

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Jane is very pleased to be a member of the VAO Board, and our Treasurer, and has a keen interest in international development. She is a chartered accountant, qualifying with PWC in 1989. Jane holds a business degree from Edinburgh University and a post-graduate qualification in charity financial management, which she obtained in 2014. She has enjoyed a varied career in the private, public and not for profit sectors, in finance,  strategic planning and general management roles, including ten years working in pharmaceuticals with GSK and nine years in the NHS. Jane is now studying for a masters degree with the Open University in art history, and in her spare time enjoys golf, swimming and painting.

Published: 5th December, 2019

Author: Matthew Bentham

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Katie Hepworth

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Katie has been a professional fundraiser for 15 years, working at Oxfam, Guide Dogs and JDRF, the type 1 diabetes charity, before taking up her current role as Director of Income Generation at Education Support, providing mental health and wellbeing services for everyone working in education in the UK. Prior to joining the charity sector, she worked in product development for a number of large multi-national companies, and still knows more than is really healthy about drill bits and Post-it Notes.

She’s travelled extensively through East and Southern Africa, and spent time with Oxfam in South Sudan. Whilst at Guide Dogs, she launched and managed My Guide, a volunteer led sighted guiding service. Part of this project involved developing training sessions for the Association of Optometrists. She also volunteered as a puppy walker, preparing a dog for a career as a life changer for someone with sight loss.

Katie holds a Chemistry degree, the Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma and an MBA. She plays violin in a symphony orchestra, sings with Rock Choir and is perpetually making things from paper, material and wool. She’s delighted to now offer a comfortable retirement to the guide dog that she puppy walked – he’s much better behaved after all his Guide Dogs training.

Published: 23rd September, 2020

Author: Matthew Bentham

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Lucy Devine

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Lucy is delighted to be a part of the VAO Board. She has been involved with sensory loss charities for nearly ten years, and VAO’s commitment to local sustainability is particularly important to her.  Professionally, Lucy is a highly experienced governance adviser, with more than 20 years’ experience of governance and change management delivery. This has included supporting governments of the UK, Africa, the UAE and Afghanistan, and holding senior roles in a national and international NGO and a global consultancy firm.  

Lucy's skills include strategic analysis, project and programme management, Board and Secretariat management, building numerical and financial confidence in client and internal teams, facilitation, business process reengineering, process mapping, change management, relationship management, business case development, risk management, content writing, presentation delivery and training (particularly Assertiveness, English Writing Skills and Numerical Confidence).

Lucy speaks Swahili and French, is a PRINCE2 practitioner and is currently studying for the Institute of Governance Company Secretary Qualifying Scheme (Diploma in Governance already achieved).  For fun, Lucy knits obsessively and swims outside in the cold. 

Published: 3rd October, 2016

Updated: 4th June, 2018

Author: sarah Namusobya

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Professor Hannah Faal

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Born in Calabar, Nigeria; Hannah received the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1975 before relocating to The Gambia in 1980 with her family to work as the sole ophthalmologist, serving a population then of 800,000. She initiated the concept of comprehensive national eye care programming resulting in a fall in the prevalence of blindness from 0.7% to 0.4% between 1986-1996.

Hannah is internationally recognised as one of the founders of the VISION 2020 initiative and served as President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) from 1999-2004. Hannah has also served as an advisor to the Prevention of Blindness programme of the World Health Organization (WHO), contributing to the focus on refractive error, low vision services and inclusive education. Active in research, she has authored over 60 publications with over 2000 citations and is a reviewer for journals. 

On retirement in 2011, Hannah took on an adjunct professorship in international eye health in Nigeria. She is also currently Trustee of the Moorfields Korle Bu Trust, member Scientific Advisory Board of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, Global Advisory Board of Our Children’s Vision and chairs the Africa Research Vision Institute.

Published: 27th September, 2018

Author: sarah Namusobya

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Professor Nora Colton - Chair

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Professor Nora Colton - Chair

Professor Nora Ann Colton is Director of Education at UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital where she oversees the development of a joint education strategy aimed at bringing these two organisations together to offer world leading education in vision and eye health.  Nora was previously the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the University of East London where she oversaw all academic affairs. She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She serves as a nonexecutive  and governor on a number of boards. Before coming to the UK, she was a Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Drew University in New Jersey, USA. She received her D.Phil. from St. Antony's College, Oxford University, in economics with a specialisation in the Middle East. She is fluent in Arabic. She has been a visiting Professor at American University in Beirut and the University of Electronic Science and Technology in Chengdu, China.

Published: 31st August, 2016

Updated: 27th September, 2019

Author: sarah Namusobya

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Richard Rawlinson

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Richard is a registered Dispensing Optician and has been involved with VAO since 2005. He volunteered on multiple assignments in Uganda, Zambia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso and was appointed VAO Vision Centre Director in 2012. Over the next two years Richard supported the development of VAO Vision Centres across several regions within sub-Saharan Africa, he worked closely with VAO colleagues and country representatives to establish the delivery of optical care within primary care settings and the development of multi-disciplinary eyecare services.

He has been involved with optical businesses in the UK for over thirty years and has also specialised in Diabetic Retinal Eye Screening, Domiciliary Eyecare and Enhanced Optical Services.  More recently he has taken on  additional roles within the UK optical sector working with NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS Acute Trusts. This has led to the development NHS enhanced optical services within primary care and the development of services linking optical practices with NHS secondary care.

He is an Optical Lead for the Local Optical Committee Support Unit (LOCSU) and Regional Lead for the Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO). Richard is currently a Director of Primary Eyecare Services, a not for profit company set up by Local Optical Committees to deliver enhanced optical services across the whole of England. He is also a Dispensing Optician registrant member on the UK Domiciliary Eyecare Committee and General Optical Council (GOC) Investigation committee. Richard is also a GOC Case examiner. 

Published: 23rd July, 2020

Author: Matthew Bentham

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Ronnie Graham

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Born in Scotland, Ronnie Graham graduated from Edinburgh University in 1974 with an MA in History and in 1975 with a Dip. Ed.  He was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and undertook 4 years of post-graduate work at the University of Ghana (1975-1979) resulting in his first book, ‘The International Aluminium Industry and the Third World’.  In 1980 he was appointed to the Dept. of History at the University of Maiduguri, northern Nigeria where he worked until 1985, publishing his second book, The Life of Major Hama Kim, University of Marburg. 

In 1986, he joined VSO as Country Director in Belize, the Caribbean and Zambia before joining Help Age International as Country director, Tanzania. By then, he had produced a 2 volume History of African Popular Music, Pluto Press, 1988 and 1993. The work in Tanzania included the development of the Zanzibar Eye Health Programme with significant investments in Human Resources for eye Health (HReH), the construction of 2 eye departments and the development of the PEC approach. Other priorities included responding to the Rwandan refugee crisis in (1994-97) and establishing a national age care organisation (SAWATA).

He later joined Sightsavers in 1997 as Regional Director for South Asia and the Caribbean. During his time with Sightsavers, his key achievements included; commissioning 2 national blindness surveys, the Bangladesh Childhood Cataract Campaign, establishing optometry training in the Caribbean, supporting PEC in Sri Lanka and the EU funded 10 District Programme in Pakistan. He was instrumental in establishing the IAPB Low Vision Working Group following the successful global conference on Low Vision in Hong Kong in 1999. 

Recently, Ronnie published his fifth book, Zanzibar: A People’s History before retiring in June 2017, to become an independent consultant with a focus on HReH and strategic advocacy.

Published: 27th September, 2018

Updated: 12th August, 2020

Author: sarah Namusobya

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Stephen Thompson

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Stephen Thompson is a social scientist who has worked in international development for over a decade. Stephen is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex - the number one ranked Development Studies institute in the world. He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He primarily works on the Inclusion Works programme, which focuses on the economic empowerment of persons with disabilities in low income settings. He has worked for both research institutes and non-government organisations in both Europe and Africa. He has researched and published studies on blindness and visual impairment, with a particular focus on human resources for health and uncorrected refractive error. He completed his doctorate at the National Optometry Centre, Dublin Institute of Technology, as an African Vision Research Institute Post Graduate Student. His thesis was on the social and economic impact of visual impairment in Mozambique. Stephen previously worked on the Knowledge and Evidence for Development programme at IDS, assisting the UK Department for International Development with evidence use and policy creation. Stephen was formally the Project Manager for the Mozambique Eyecare Project, where he spent a number of years developing the optometry programme at Universidade Lurio, Mozambique. He also worked for Vision Aid Overseas between 2007 and 2009.

Published: 26th September, 2018

Author: sarah Namusobya

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    19thJanuary, 2021 @_VAO
  • Come and join our team! 🙋🏽 We are looking for a new trustee, to provide advice on technical aspects of Optometry, w… https://t.co/yd29FXItel

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