We are working with local partners in developing communities to build sustainable eye care systems and ensure people receive the eye care they need.
About
Our Vision
Our Values
Our Policies
Governance
About Brien Holden Foundation
At the Foundation we recognise the importance of building local and sustainable systems of eye care. Collaboration with national health systems allows us to work alongside existing infrastructure to establish and/or improve delivery of eye care. We place a deep emphasis on community control in our partnerships at the local level to meet community needs and achieve affordable quality eye care. Together, we are contributing to the alleviation of poverty and suffering through a strategic combination of eye care programs.
Education is key to our strategies; we have developed a range of courses to teach and build different skills from the community level to professional development. Through the combination of evaluation, research, education and training, service development, we support 14 emerging optometry schools and have trained almost 250,000 eye care personnel around the world.
Our domestic and international work is anchored in an open and transparent dialogue with local communities and aims to strengthen local capacities in an empowering and sustainable manner. We believe lasting change in the eye health sector is achieved through collaborative support and long-term relationships with partners and communities built on collaboration and aligned strategic focus. We are committed to continuous improvement and to delivering our programs with integrity and professionalism. Funds raised and donated by the public go to support and carry out eye care service delivery, education and training programs in developing communities across the globe.
The Foundation is an Australian NGO accredited by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and is part of the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). As a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) we adhere to the ACFID Code of Conduct which defines required standards of governance, management and accountability of development for non-government organisations.
If you would like to read more information on who we are and what we aim to achieve through our work, please click on the links below.
We value your feedback. If you would like to provide us with feedback or would like to lodge a complaint, please contact us and your message will be directed to the appropriate staff for resolution.
Our Vision
We believe in Vision for everyone, everywhere.
More than 1.22 billion people are unnecessarily blind or vision impaired simply because they don’t have access to an eye examination and a pair of glasses.
Brien Holden Foundation provides eye care services, education and training initiatives and conducts research in order to eliminate uncorrected vision impairment and avoidable blindness.
Our Values
Social Inclusion
We stand for and support fair treatment of all people regardless of gender, race, colour, ethnicity, age, marital or parental status, sexual preference, disability or religious belief.
Collaboration
Our work with and alongside our colleagues and partners is guided by mutual respect and equity and reflects our shared and common goal to bring about positive change.
Accountability
We take responsibility for our actions and are transparent in our decisions. We adhere to best practice procedures and hold ourselves accountable through continuous evaluation and learning.
Integrity
We value authentic knowledge and practice honesty in our communication and work and follow ethical and moral principles in our decision-making processes.
Our Policies
Brien Holden Foundation is committed to adhering to high standards of accountability and governance. If you would like to know more on some of our policies that help guide our practices, please follow the links below.
Governance
Our Board of Directors are a group of dedicated people with diverse experiences and knowledge, who serve to ensure our vision and values are maintained and provide oversight across strategy execution.
Brien Holden Foundation
Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation (ABN 86 081 872 586) is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) and is a fully accredited non-governmental organisation (NGO) by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for delivering overseas aid and development programs.
Through our DFAT funding we are part of the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) that acts as the supporting mechanism enabling Australian NGO community development programs which directly and tangibly alleviate poverty and promote sustainable economic growth in developing countries.
We are a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), the regulatory body for Australian international development NGOs, and adhere to the self-regulatory Code of Conduct mandated by ACFID. This Code sets out standards on how organisations should be governed and managed, how they communicate, how they spend funds they raise and best practice principles for international program development. We are a member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and a principal member of Vision 2020 Australia.
In 2008, an important milestone was achieved when the Brien Holden Foundation received accreditation by the Australian Aid.
Australian Aid manages the majority of the Australian Government’s overseas aid program working with the governments and people of developing countries to deliver assistance where it is most effectively needed, consequently improving the lives of millions of people.
A key element of Australia’s strategy to effectively engage with communities overseas is its partnership with the Australian Council for the International Development (ACFID). ACFID is the peak body for Australian international development non-government organisations (NGO).
Australian Aid and ACFID signed a partnership agreement in 2009, recognising long standing cooperation between the two organisations and promoting a robust and professional Australian international development NGO sector.
The agreement recognises that non-government organisations like the Institute, contributes significantly to Australia’s overall international development outcomes for the overseas aid program. It acknowledges NGO’s are important partners who play a key role in international efforts to reduce poverty, and comparative advantages in aid delivery include their ability to build people-to-people links, deliver sustainable community-led solutions for people living in poverty, and reach the poorest and most marginalised.
In September 2000, member states of the United Nations, including Australia, agreed to work towards eliminating global poverty and hunger, to improve health, gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability and to create a global partnership for development. This commitment initally produced the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which evolved post 2015 into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically a collection of 17 global goals known as ‘Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’. Australian aid helps developing countries to achieve these goals.
Since we received accreditation by Australian Aid and became a member of ACFID, we have adhered to the self-regulatory Code of Conduct mandated by ACFID. The Code represents the active commitment of overseas aid agencies or non-government development organisations (NGDOs) to conduct their activities with integrity and accountability.
The Code aims to enhance standards throughout the NGDO community to ensure that public confidence is maintained in the way that community contributions to overseas aid are used to reduce poverty through effective and sustainable development. After 14 years of operation ACFID comprehensively reviewed the code in 2010 and it now includes more than 50 principles and more than 150 binding obligations.
How does it operate?
Current compliance mechanisms include:
- checking of documentation upon membership application (governing instrument, policies)
- an annual statement of commitment to the code
- review of annual and financial reports by a qualified accountant against the reporting requirements of the code
- annual self– assessment against every principle of the code signed by the signatory governing body and reviewed by the Code of Conduct Committee
- random audits of fundraising material during an emergency and an external complaints mechanism
How is it governed?
An independent, voluntary Code of Conduct Committee monitors adherence to the code and investigates complaints, which may be brought by any member of the public. The primary focus is to work with signatory organisations to improve standards and reduce the risk of breach occurrence. If a breach is serious, or the signatory does not respond appropriately, disciplinary action may be considered.
The committee may require the signatory to provide information to donors, notify Australian Aid, and ultimately suspend Code membership. A small team is located within ACFID that undertakes compliance activities and investigates complaints, which are confidential to the Code Committee.
Complaints against the Institute
Brien Holden Foundation is committed to taking all reasonable measures to monitor and regulate organisation practices to fully adhere to the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) Code of Conduct.
Should you feel the ACFID Code has been breached and would like to submit a complaint to the Institute, please address your complaint to the Director at the following email address: complaints@brienholdenvision.org
If you wish to take the matter further or would like to make a complaint about the Director then please address you complaint to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute, at the following email address: privacy@brienholdenvision.org
All complaints will be acknowledged as soon as possible with an expected outcome of their complaint be received within a 30 day period of receipt. The Institute’s Director is the focal point for all complaints made and has responsibility to delegate, initiate and coordinate the response in consultation with the CEO, regardless of which country’s practices are in question. On receiving a response, should you wish to take the matter further, appeals may be made in writing to the Chairman of the Board within 30 days of receiving the initial response from the CEO.
If you would like further information please read our complaints policy or contact our complaints officer on: complaints@brienholdenvision.org or call +612 9385 7433.
In the event you wish to take the matter further to ACFID, please visit the complaints section at: www.acfid.asn.au
Brien Holden Foundation is a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), a signatory to the ACFID Code of Conduct and is a registered charity.
ABN number: 86 081 872 586
Current Directors of the Board
Professor Serge Resnikoff
Professor Serge Resnikoff MD, PhD is the Foundation’s Chair.
An international expert and consultant in global public health, ophthalmology, and eye health, Professor Resnikoff teaches in Paris and London and is Chair of the International Myopia Institute board, the Chair of Our Children’s Vision advisory board and the President and Chair of Organisation pour la Prévention de la Cécité (OPC), an organisation developing eye care in francophone Africa. In addition, Professor Resnikoff holds several positions including as visiting Professor with the University of New South Wales School of Optometry and Vision Science.
He joined the board on 1 May 2020.
Professor Fiona Stapleton
Professor Fiona Stapleton is Scientia Professor, School of Optometry and Vision Science, UNSW Sydney. She is also Associate Dean, Enterprise in UNSW’s Faculty of Science.
Professor Stapleton is President-elect of the International Society for Contact Lens Research and holds multiple memberships and affiliations with scientific organisations. She was awarded Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science and Technology in 2018
She joined the Board on 26 March 2019.
Ms Yvette Waddell
Yvette Waddell MBA is the CEO of the Foundation and of BHVI as well as the Director and Company Secretary of the Foundation. Yvette has worked in the Brien Holden Group for more than 25 years and has expert knowledge in corporate business management, translational research leadership and scientific innovation. She is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
She joined the Board on 26 March 2019.
Disclosure: Yvette Waddell is the CEO of both BHVI and the Brien Holden Foundation. Colina Waddell, who is the Head of NSW Program, is related to Yvette Waddell by marriage.
Professor Reuben Bolt
Professor Bolt (PhD; MBA; MMAP; BHS hons) was elevated in 2021 to Deputy Vice-Chancellor First Nations Leadership, where he oversees the implementation of the CDU First Nations Leadership Core Plan and the Engagement and Partnership Core Plan.
He joined Charles Darwin University in 2020 as the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership and Regional Outreach (PVCILRO). Reuben is passionate about Indigenous education and is a strong advocate for improving outcomes in Indigenous communities, particularly in the Northern Territory.
He joined the Board on 3 September 2019.
Mr Willi Friderich
Willi Friderich is the former Managing Director Finance and Administration and Company Secretary of Aldi Stores Australia, having worked with the Aldi group for over 16 years. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and Company Secretary for the Bread & Butter Project. Willi leads with a strong focus on building collaborative environments while empowering healthy discussion and change.
He joined the Board on 20 November 2020.