Helen Keller Intl's Mission: Helen Keller Intl, a 109-year-old organization, focuses on combating blindness, poor health, and malnutrition. The organization scales innovative solutions to ensure everyone can live a healthy life and achieve their full potential.
Global Operations and Focus Areas: The organization operates as an international NGO with headquarters in New York City and local registrations in various countries. Active in 20 countries, they work on preventing blindness, addressing neglected tropical diseases, and tackling eye health issues like refractive error, cataract, and diabetic retinopathy. The focus is on underlying causes of vision loss and malnutrition.
Current Projects and Achievements: Sarah discusses progress in eliminating neglected tropical diseases like trachoma in West Africa. She shares the transformative impact of providing glasses to children in New York City and Minneapolis. The organization is also addressing global food poverty exacerbated by the climate crisis, particularly affecting Africa and South Asia.
Challenges and Solutions: Helen Keller Intl addresses malnutrition by naming and analyzing the issue, identifying vulnerable communities, and funding effective programs. Successful interventions include promoting breastfeeding, providing vitamin A supplementation, and treating acute and severe malnutrition. Political will, supply chains, and health system expertise are crucial for effective action.
Community Engagement and Behavioral Change: Sarah highlights the role of community health workers in promoting nutritional diversity, using her experiences in Kenya as an example. Local planning and community-based agriculture are essential for ensuring access to nutritious food. Malnutrition issues are present in both the Global South and advanced economies like the United States, requiring behavior change and political commitment.
About Sarah Bouchie
Sarah Bouchie became Helen Keller Intl’s President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2024. In this role, she collaborates with Helen Keller’s Board of Trustees, leadership team, and staff, along with partner organizations and global leaders, to advance Helen Keller’s mission around the world.
With nearly three decades of international development leadership, Sarah has sat at both sides of the table – as an implementer and advocate with prominent global nonprofits and as a leader of the philanthropic investments that shape humanitarian and development impact. Prior to joining Helen Keller, Sarah served as Chief Impact Officer at the LEGO Foundation. Under her leadership, the LEGO Foundation deepened its commitment to children in vulnerable circumstances, expanded its footprint, and more than tripled its philanthropic investments. Prior to her time at LEGO Foundation, Sarah has led institutional fundraising, advocacy, and program efforts for organizations including ChildFund International, CARE USA, Save the Children, and the Aga Khan Foundation.
Sarah has served on steering groups for the multi-lateral investment funds at Education Cannot Wait, the Education Outcomes Fund, and the World Bank, as well as serving as Vice-Chair of the Steering Group for the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies.
She is a mother of two creative, inquisitive daughters and lives in Harare, Zimbabwe with her family.