Yves Behar Helps Kids See Better to Learn More

"Back in 2009, the dynamic San Francisco-based designer Yves Behar gave me a sneak preview of a few prototypes he was working on. One of these prototypes was a set of very hip-looking eyewear with colorful mix-and-match frames. They looked like something you’d purchase at a chic, high-end boutique. But instead, they were low-cost spectacles targeted for children who needed help with their vision but would be stigmatized if they wore glasses. Behar and his studio, fuseproject, intended to give them away for free to school kids in the so-called developing world and other areas of the globe where resources might not be plentiful," says a SmartPlanet post. "In 2010, one year after showing me the prototype, Behar launched the project (which fuseproject calls the Verbien See Better to Learn Better initiative) in Mexico, in partnership with Augen Optics and the Mexican Government. So far, See Better to Learn Better has resulted in 500,000 free eye exams and 358,000 schoolchildren outfitted with free glasses, all in Mexico. And on September 1, Behar and fuseproject won a prestigious Index Award, a respected international prize for “design for good” projects, for See Better to Learn Better." Read more.