Seeing is Believing

Seeing is Believing is a global community service initiated in 2003 and driven by the Bank’s employees in helping tackle avoidable blindness, 90 per cent of which is found in the developing world where the Bank’s business is rooted.

The statistics are staggering! 45 million people around the world are blind. Every five seconds a person goes blind. The tragedy is that 75% of blindness is avoidable – meaning that it could either have been prevented, or it could be cured.

Seeing is Believing is a partnership between Standard Chartered Bank and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), the leading umbrella organization for NGOs working in the field of eye care.

• In 2003, we aimed to restore the sight of 28,000 people across the globe. We doubled that target and helped 56,000 people to regain their sight.
• Our second target of raising USD6 million was reached one year ahead of schedule and we are on target to have contributed to one million sight restorations by World Sight Day 2007.

A New Vision 20:20:20 - Standard Chartered will invest USD 20 million in sustainable eye-care services for 20 million people across 20 cities.

In line with the Group’s objective, Thailand has collaborated with the Christian Foundation for the Blind in Thailand and Chirstian Blind Mission (CBM) in providing assistance to cataract patients receiving eye operation. The most recent cataract operation was led by the CIO, at Kalasin in Petchaboon Province and Khao Yoi Hospital in Phetchaburi Province. So far we have operated on more than 500 eyes and raised more than 2,000,000 THB in fund.

In addtion, we also recognized the importance of giving hope to those already suffered from incurable blindness. This is why in Thailand we take the initiatives to further help the patients. Some of these activities are:

iSight Lab with Chulalongkorn University

Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) has collaborated with Chulalongkorn University in the development of an open-source program called Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) to assist visually-impaired person to operate computers and its software. It employs text-to-speech technology to inform the operator by voice on what is on the screen. It was delivered successfully in Q4 2008.

On 27th October 2008, Chulalongkorn University and Standard Chartered Bank (Thai), led by CSS Country Manager, together with CIO, and Mr. Mark Devadason CEO, presided over a ceremony to donate 105 computers to the School for Blind People, Bangkok. NVDA was installed on all computers and will be used by both teachers and students, opening up a world of learning opportunities for all.

The Bank has employed 2 visually-impaired people in the Customer Service in 2008 on 1st December. We hope this venture will be successful and a role model for all industries in Thailand. Our tools are being freely distributed to the community and we aim to encourage other companies to use these to help offer knowledge-based jobs for the visually-impaired.

Blind Children Excursion

In collaboration with our own local iDream programme we aim to entertain and educate children who are visually-impaired by giving them the opportunities to enjoy various activities in a friendly environment, including swimming at Suan Siam water park, horse riding with 2nd Cavalry Division of the King’s Guard, and touring the National Museum.

If you are interested in working with us or in our programme please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Somboon Hirunpattarasilp
Email: somboon.hirunpattarasilp@standdardchartered.com