| In order to effectively participate in such National Committees, designated optometric leaders should have the following competencies: |
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 Coordination: To strengthen links between the IAPB, WHO, WCO and other international partners, national government, public health and visual health professionals, and ensure coordination, communication and cooperation with all visual health development partners; Provide Leadership and Advocacy for effective action to prevent blindness; Seek strategic information to guide efforts of the partners; Track, monitor and evaluate the efforts; Mobilize financial, technical and political resources to achieve set objectives |
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| Promotion: To promote visual health awareness at local, national and international levels including awareness about the determinants of visual health, especially for disadvantaged populations, to slow and reverse the trends on blindness by providing guidance on national policy and programs, help build national capacity for visual health promotion at primary, secondary and tertiary levels of care, support the development of tools and methods to increase the use of information for health policy, engage civil society through sensitization regarding the prevention of blindness; |
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| Management: Oversee the development of a comprehensive approach with integrated plans for the delivery of eye health promotion, vision care within established health systems and innovate for new approaches including increased capacity building; utilize and maximize leadership, communication and collaboration to implement strategies of VISION 2020 |
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| Research: Develop and conduct situation assessments of epidemiology of blindness and related vision disorders, human resource availability, economic impact and quality of life research; Monitor and evaluate such investigations; Disseminate information through appropriate multi-sector channels, utilize information to determine evidence based policy development; mobilize resources to implement such |
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| Advocacy: Sensitize or create awareness about the importance and impact of not only blindness but good visual health to all sectors and levels of society; utilize appropriate techniques to create political will to address the issue of blindness; mobilize resources to perform such activities through constructive rather than destructive methods; develops and creates synergistic partnerships with the goal of eliminating avoidable blindness within the country and around the world; maximizing internal and external partnerships within the eye care sector and with related sectors |
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These competencies require:
Training/Experience in Development Cooperation, Public Health, Economics, Public Administration, Management, Health Promotion, Political Advocacy, Social Mobilization, Program Planning and Design, Monitoring and Evaluation.
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