Helen Keller International Myanmar

HKI involved the Prevention of Blindness Program (PBL) throughout the training needs assessment process at central and township level. This was an important step because an assessment can often be viewed as being critical or negative. By involving PBL, they were able to see and understand for themselves that there are gaps in knowledge and materials with regard to primary eye care among basic health staff.

Furthermore, their involvement provided an opportunity for the preamble on primary eye care training for basic health staff. Every time HKI conducts training, permission from the government will be required. The stronger our partnership becomes through working with the government, the more likely requests for permission to conduct trainings will be granted and the greater the level of buy-in from government officials is likely to be. This buy-in will help to enable long term sustainability of the program.

Diane Lindsey
Regional Advisor, Asia Pacific
Helen Keller International
[email protected]