How To Apply, Program Requirements, and Costs

How To Apply

  • Submit an application at http://www.uniteforsight.org/volunteer-abroad/apply
  • There is not an application deadline. Unite For Sight accepts applications on a rolling application deadline, and qualified applicants are therefore accepted on a first-come, first served basis. Programs fill quickly, and we therefore suggest that you apply as soon as you decide that you would like to participate. You may apply more than a full year in advance, or you may apply a few months in advance. If there is still space available, you may apply less than one month in advance of a program, though this is not encouraged since all programs may be filled, and you would have little time to prepare. Those who apply early can lock in their first choice program location and program dates before programs start becoming filled. Our website shows the programs that are currently available and accepting applications, and filled programs are crossed off on the Dates list as soon as they become unavailable.
  • Recommendations are an important part of the application process. You must list at least two (2) professional references. You may list more than two, and we will review your application on the basis of the first two recommendation letters that we receive from your recommenders. Acceptable professional references include college instructors, academic advisers, former or current employers, work supervisors, and volunteer supervisors. Personal references (friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, clergymen, fellow students, and student leaders of a student organization) are not acceptable references, will be disregarded, and will result in automatic rejection of the application. College students should not submit a letter from a high school teacher or from a supervisor during high school.
  • The application fee is $55, which may be submitted by credit card or by electronic check at the same time as the applicant submits the application.
  • The first qualified applicants are accepted, based on strong letters of recommendation and thoughtful application essay responses. Accepted Global Impact Fellows demonstrate intellectual curiosity, passion about global health, cultural competency, integrity, humility, respect for supervisors, cooperative disposition, dedication, and commitment to hard work.

Program Requirements

Our research, experience, and evaluation has enabled us to develop a highly successful pre-service training and orientation process that ensures that volunteers are fully prepared to contribute to the success of the Unite For Sight programs.

All of the Unite For Sight pre-service requirements can only be completed after a participant first applies for and is accepted to the Unite For Sight program. Unite For Sight provides an easy-to-use personal login page so that fellows can keep track of their pre-service progress and access all relevant program-specific details and materials, program manuals, phone numbers, important links, as well as email addresses of their fellow volunteers and email addresses of alumni participants.

  • Global Impact Training: Fellows are trained in global health and global problem solving by Unite For Sight's pioneering training program, which includes Unite For Sight's Global Health Online Course, Cultural Competency Online Course, Volunteer Ethics and Professionalism Online Course, Social Entrepreneurship Overview, Community Eye Health Online Course, articles about The Importance of Sustainable Development in Eye Care, Effective Health Education, Rumors and Word of Mouth, Overview of Spending at the Base of the Pyramid, and Photography and Ethics, as well as a TED Video about cultural understandings and misperceptions. Global Impact Fellows also complete a Program-Specific Training Course in which they watch short online videos and read articles about the program site where they will be volunteering.
  • Shadow an Optometrist or Ophthalmologist: Global Impact Fellows (those who are not eye care professionals) complete a series of steps to learn standardized knowledge about eye disease, eye anatomy, and eye health. They begin by completing an Online Eye Health Course. Global Impact Fellows also must shadow an eye doctor for 2-3 days in their local community to learn about eye anatomy and eye health. Volunteers are given a list of lessons that they should learn during the shadowing experience. For example, what are cataracts, and how does surgery restore sight? What is the proper way for a patient to administer their eye medication? The knowledge that they learn while shadowing is important to enable Global Impact Fellows to support and assist the partner eye clinics in Ghana, Honduras, and India.

    How do I coordinate the shadowing? Global Impact Fellows coordinate their shadowing with a local eye doctor in their own community, which can be done at either a private eye doctor's office, or at a university department of ophthalmology or optometry. Most all Global Impact Fellows are able to swiftly coordinate training with a local eye doctor of their own choosing. However, we also have a list of ophthalmologists and optometrists who have trained Global Impact Fellows during the past many years, and we can direct you to one of them as well.

    Special instructions for clinical students: Clinical medical students and clinical optometry students who have already completed clinical rotations should be familiar with the training skills. Therefore, they do not need to re-complete the 2-3 day training program with an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Instead, they may have their clinical instructor (an ophthalmologist or optometrist) sign the Unite For Sight Eye Training Certificate to confirm that the volunteer has already learned the skills required of all Unite For Sight volunteers during their clinical rotation. Ophthalmology residents do not need to complete the training or submit the eye training form.
  • Insurance: It is important for anyone traveling abroad to have security, medical assistance, and medical expense reimbursement insurance coverage. All Global Impact Fellows are required to purchase security and medical assistance insurance, as well as medical expense reimbursement insurance, through International SOS.
  • Passport, VISA, Vaccinations: Receive a Passport and VISA, and get vaccinations and a physical exam. All participants are required to receive all necessary vaccinations and malaria prophylaxis for travel in accordance with The Travelers' Health Report from the National Center of Infectious Diseases of the Centers for Disease Control
  • Obtain/Receive Eyeglasses: Global Impact Fellows obtain at least 600 reading glasses or sunglasses for donation to the partner eye clinic in the destination country. Most volunteers order eyeglasses from an organization such as RestoringVision (U.S.-based volunteers), New Eyes For The Needy (U.S.-based volunteers), Lion's Club (Canada-based volunteers, Australia-based volunteers, and others), or other similar organizations worldwide. These organizations will ship the supply of eyeglasses directly to the Global Impact Fellow by postal mail. The highest quailty eyeglasses come from RestoringVision, which receives overstocked glasses that would otherwise be discarded by eyeglass companies. The cost for the glasses varies by the supplier. Eyeglasses from the Lion's Club are usually shipped free of charge ($0), while RestoringVision charges a shipping cost of 30 cents per eyeglass, and New Eyes For The Needy charges a minimal shipping cost. After receiving the reading glasses and sunglasses in the mail, Global Impact Fellows simply pack the collection into their suitcase to transport to the eye clinic abroad. These reading glasses and sunglasses are distributed to patients by the eye clinic where the volunteer participates. Upon acceptance to the Unite For Sight program, fellows receive detailed instructions and contact information for obtaining reading glasses and sunglasses.
  • Fundraise (100% provides eye care to patients): All Global Impact Fellows fundraise at least $1800 for Unite For Sight's international eye care programs, except professionals (fully licensed, fully trained and practicing optometrists and ophthalmologists who provide skills transfer to local eye care professionals, as well as professional filmmakers and photographers who are participating in this professional capacity), who fund raise at least $600 for the eye care programs.

    Fundraising is an essential part of a fellow's contribution to patients living in extreme poverty. 100% of the fundraising efforts by Unite For Sight's fellows provide poor patients with free eye care and sight-restoring surgeries. Each cataract surgery costs $50 on average, so every dollar that you fundraise makes a tremendous impact on the lives of children and adults. Additionally, your fundraising efforts help to create public awareness about global eye care needs. Your pre-departure fundraising therefore allows you to make a huge impact before you even go abroad.

    Can I personally pay the $1800 instead of fundraising? Yes, you may submit the $1800 fundraising requirement as a personal donation if you prefer. Global Impact Fellows rarely pursue this option. We advise you to fundraise among family and friends since this is a great opportunity to engage your family and friends in your upcoming experience abroad. By simply sending their personalized fundraising page to all of their family and friends, Global Impact Fellows usually far exceed the $1800 fundraising minimum, and they are therefore able to have an even greater impact on the patients living in extreme poverty. Additionally, by fundraising, you will not need to personally submit the monies. However, if you prefer to personally pay the $1800, that is absolutely fine.

    Easy-To-Use Personalized Fundraising Page: To help with fundraising efforts, Unite For Sight creates a personal donation fundraising page for all of its Global Impact Fellows and also provides a Fundraising Toolkit. Unite For Sight's Global Impact Fellows are very successful with their fundraising initiatives, and it requires very little of a volunteer's time since they only need to email their fundraising website link to friends and family. As their friends and family submit donations, Unite For Sight automatically records the donations and sends an email to the volunteer as each donation arrives. All donors also receive a receipt for tax purposes, and the donations are tax-deductible to the full extent provided by U.S. law. It usually takes no more than one month for a volunteer to reach the $1800 minimum fundraising amount, and some volunteers even reach the fundraising minimum within 1 week. If a volunteer falls short of the fundraising minimum, they may complete their fundraising requirement by submitting the balance from their personal funds. For example, if they are $100 short of the fundraising requirement, they would submit a personal donation of $100 so that they reach the $1800 minimum.

    Click To View Examples of Volunteer Fundraising Pages

  • Upon acceptance to the program, Global Impact Fellows are required to submit a reimbursable deposit to confirm their commitment and to hold their place in the program. The deposit is fully reimbursed after a Global Impact Fellow successfully completes the Unite For Sight program. Therefore, after completing the Unite For Sight program, volunteers will have submitted no personal funds to Unite For Sight, unless they choose to personally donate. The reimbursable deposit insures that all confirmed fellows will follow through with their commitment to Unite For Sight by participating in the program as planned, and that they will complete their pre-departure requirements.

Alumni Reflections

"I am very impressed with how Unite For Sight prepares their volunteers and has such a good rapport with their organizations that they work with. I like how Unite For Sight is very professional and prepared to help you in every way possible. They thought of almost everything and anything that could affect you while on your trip and prepared you for every situation (through readings, online videos, and other training). In turn, this made for such a wonderful experience during my two weeks."

Alumni Reflections

"My overall experience was excellent because not only did I gain a cultural experience and meet wonderful people and make friendships, but I also have also gained an academic and hands on experience into the field my interest. The modules, preparations, training, fundraising and eyeglass collection have brought me so much close to my family, friends, and community has allowed to appreciate the global community. I am certain that I will contribute some of my time and skill to community development in developing countries in the future...I learned so much about the role of NGOs through reading the modules and the importance of having an effective and organized organization in order to have a positive impact rather than a negative one."


Alumni Reflections

"In the surgery room, people were prepped and operated on at amazing efficiency, as the surgery itself took but seven minutes. Seven miraculous minutes was all it took for people to get their sight back. A miracle not only for them, but an eye opener for me, for I had fundraised enough money for 57 of these people to have this chance to regain their sight, a chance they would not have had without the financial support of Unite For Sight. My experience in Ghana was nothing short of amazing. Not only did I get a hands-on experience in the medical field as an undergraduate, but I realized how preventable blindness can be in many developing countries; so preventable that I, a mere college student, could change 57 lives."

Alumni Reflections

"I loved how the Unite For Sight program guided you through the whole process of becoming a volunteer. I appreciated the deadlines, for it gave me solid timeline with which to work. On top of that, I was glad that there were readings on cultural competency, health care, the anatomy and physiology of the eye, and the numerous pathologies of the eye. Without all these required readings and videos, I would have gone in blind to Patna. However, because I was able to get a general understanding of what my stay in Patna would be like, what work was required of me, and how to interact with patients, I felt more at ease while I was actually volunteering. My favorite requirement was the one where I had to go and shadow an ophthalmologist. I learned so much more about the eye than I could have just from reading and watching videos. I was able to attain actual experience on how to establish a relationship with the patient and how to proceed in taking down a patient's history and visual acuity. Without the requirements, I would not have been as effective of a volunteer as I was because of all the knowledge I gained beforehand."



Costs

  • Unite For Sight does not have an administrative program fee. Unite For Sight operates in a very cost-effective manner so that the organization does not need to pass along typical administrative and volunteer coordination expenses to its volunteers. After completing the Unite For Sight program, Global Impact Fellows will have submitted no personal funds to Unite For Sight, unless they choose to personally donate.
  • Unite For Sight provides our Global Impact Fellows with a highly educational experience that includes hands-on training in global health. Our Global Impact Training e-learning courses are freely available, and there is no tuition charge for any component of Unite For Sight's programs.
  • Volunteers pay for their own airfare, travel, VISA, immunizations, insurance, and living expenses. No funds for travel, lodging, or living expenses are paid directly to Unite For Sight. The total costs will vary based on your program location, as well as the amount of time that you will be abroad. You may calculate the travel costs according to the summary below.
    • Airfare: Airfare varies based on your starting location, destination location, and the time of year. You can determine the flight cost by going to a travel website such as FlyForGood, Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, FlyCheapAbroad or by going directly to the websites of airlines.
    • Living and Lodging Costs: Review the "Living and Lodging Costs" section for the program location(s) of interest to you. First, go to Program Locations, and then select your preferred program location to see all of the program details, including the living and lodging costs.
    • International SOS Security, Medical Assistance, and Medical Expense Reimbursement Costs: The exact cost depends on the amount of time that you spend abroad. You may coordinate a cost estimate at http://buymembership.internationalsos.com/ For example, a 10-day period of security insurance coverage costs $84, and a 1-month period of insurance coverage costs $189. The medical expense reimbursement (health insurance coverage) also varies by the number of days abroad. Coverage for up to 10 days is an additional $29, while coverage for up to 31 days is an additional $53. Therefore, for a volunteer participating for 10 days, the cost would be $84 for medical assistance and security coverage and an additional $29 for health insurance coverage.
    • Visa: You will need a visa to enter Ghana and India. You may review the costs on the Ghana or India Consulate websites in your country. For example, the cost for a visa to Ghana from the U.S. is $60 USD.

Volunteer Abroad

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