Meet our new CEO Jeanette Dijkstra
Jeanette Dijkstra recently served as Country Director for Azerbaijan and Angola at the INGO Mines Advisory Group, where she worked on humanitarian demining and weapons and ammunition management. After many years abroad, she has now returned to the Netherlands and has taken on the role of Chief Executive Officer at the Eye Care Foundation.
The Eye Care Foundation (ECF) is an independent NGO dedicated to preventing and curing avoidable blindness and visual impairment in low- and middle-income countries. ECF runs eye care projects in Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Tanzania, Zambia, and Rwanda.
Jeanette Dijkstra succeeds Björn Stenvers at the Eye Care Foundation, who left the organization at the end of February.
Our mission is to support ECF country teams in achieving the goals they have set in the field of eye care, with the primary objective of preventing avoidable blindness. This goal is pursued by strengthening national and regional systems, providing technical expertise, training national medical staff, building eye care centers, and delivering eye care services—from screenings to glasses and, where necessary, surgeries. Special attention is given to people in remote and more marginalized communities, where access to this essential care is limited or entirely absent.
About Jeanette Dijkstra
Over the past 20 years, Jeanette has been active in the international humanitarian and development sector, including work in access to water (WASH), urban governance, microfinance, and social housing. She has held roles as an operations manager, institutional fundraiser, and interim manager. For the past 10 years, she served as Country Director for the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in Azerbaijan and Angola, focusing on humanitarian demining and weapons and ammunition management. She worked in Angola for 13 years and in Azerbaijan for nearly 3 years, and has maintained strong ties with Morocco since 2010.
About Eye Care Foundation
The Eye Care Foundation was established in the Netherlands to support the development and strengthening of accessible and affordable eye care in developing countries. Together with its partners and donors—including 30,000 private donors from the Netherlands—Eye Care Foundation focuses its efforts on the poorest populations, for whom proper medical eye care is either inaccessible or unaffordable. In 2024, Eye Care Foundation celebrates its 40th anniversary.
