The ambition

The Fred Hollows Foundation (The Foundation) is an international development organisation, based in Australia. The Foundation recognises that the burden of avoidable blindness and vision loss is increasing globally. Operating across over 20 low- and middle-income countries worldwide, it is working to significantly reduce this burden by increasing eye care services.

The Foundation does this by addressing key barriers in eye health, raising awareness of the development benefits of improving eye health, and by embedding actions to enhance eye health and care in policies and practices at the global, regional, and country level to ensure that the services are available to the most in need.

As an International Non-Government Organisation (INGO) The Foundation can be a catalyst, but it recognises that national government investment is critical to scaling eye health solutions. Opportunities exist to proactively engage with governments on the economic and development benefits of investments in eye health, drawing on research which demonstrates the high return on investment and a positive impact on multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The project recognised the unique role that gender plays in vision loss. Of the 1.1 million people globally with vision impairment, more than half are women. Women and girls face significant cultural and systemic barriers to receiving eye health services or treatment with the same frequency as men. 

The Foundation has made a strategic commitment to prioritise gender equity in eye health and is delivering a programme of work towards this goal. 

The Foundation engaged Firetail to help answer four strategic questions:

1. What would happen if more women were in leadership positions in global health?

2. How do we find and engage the right partners to support and amplify our advocacy for women and girls?

3. What are the key trends and best practice approaches that we can learn from to support the development of our new strategy?

4. How can we best facilitate learning and training about gender equity between our staff and teams?

During the project, The Foundation wanted to actively engage internal stakeholders throughout the organisation, as well as external health partners and other stakeholders in the international development sector.

Our approach

We designed a collaborative and mixed-methods approach with The Foundation project team. Beginning with internal research and document reviews, Firetail conducted desk research and analysis of secondary literature tailored to each strategic question. For example, to support The Foundation’s new gender equity strategy, Firetail reviewed approaches of peer organisations working in international development for potential lessons or best practice examples. For the hypothesis testing workstream, Firetail assessed academic reports on current representation of women leaders in global health, the drivers of change and emerging outcomes.  Stakeholder engagement, including one-on-one conversations and workshops, provided deeper insights that complemented the desk findings.

Firetail synthesised the findings and conclusions into a series of strategic outputs for The Foundation. We worked with The Foundation team to shape new recommendations to guide external and internal engagement and partnerships.

The impact

Firetail's research and recommendations have had an impact in several ways:

• Internally, staff and teams are integrating gender equity into strategic planning and programme design and women and girls have been re-confirmed as a strategic priority in the new 2024 – 2028 strategy.

• At the Women Deliver Conference in Rwanda in July 2023, The Foundation launched its report, "Women Deliver Eye Health: Let’s Reframe Who Leads It," emphasising the importance of gender representation in leadership for better decision-making, resource allocation, and policy formulation.

• A powerful letter to UN Women laid out the strategic importance of eye health, resulting in a partnership and launch of a joint policy brief on the sidelines of the at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2023.

• A parallel event on the fringe of the 68th Commission for the Status of Women in New York in March 2024 which explored the importance of accelerating efforts towards Gender Equality to achieve Universal Health Coverage.

Louisa Syrett, Head of Gender Advocacy and Engagement at The Fred Hollows Foundation, said:

“Our aim was to gain a better understanding of the gender equity landscape and trends, how other organisations were approaching it and potential opportunities for The Foundation. Firetail brought a rigorous methodology to the research design and analysis. We worked in close partnership to identify the right experts and women leaders to engage in interviews, with Firetail leading the conversations. The outcomes of the work have improved The Foundation’s position as a global leader in gender equity in eye health.  They have informed new areas of work and partnerships – and we’re confident and excited about the future.”

Jennifer Gersbeck, Executive Director of Global Advocacy at The Fred Hollows Foundation said:

“Our aim was to create a strategy that would bring the whole organisation together to unite around closing the gender gap in eye health. Firetail played a key role in helping to make that happen. We needed an approach that would bring people with us and provide fresh perspectives on how we could tackle the challenges of closing the gap. 

Firetail has been a great partner. They provided high quality research and evidence-based insights that enriched our discussions and guided us to more informed decision-making. They have also challenged us to explore new avenues and think differently about our partnerships and approaches. 

My goal is to ensure gender equity is embedded across the eye health sector. The Foundation has a leadership voice, but we know the power comes through partnerships. This work is helping us to extend our reach and amplify our work to close the gender gap in eye health.”

Insight and further reading

Learn more about The Fred Hollows Foundation and its work in gender equity

Read the final report Women Deliver Eye Health: Let’s Reframe Who Leads It

Read the joint UN Women and The Fred Hollows Foundation policy brief: No Woman Left Behind; Closing the Gender and Inclusion Gap in Eye Health