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LONDON (AlertNet) - An image of two schoolgirls in Peru doing their homework has won photographer Karl Grobl the first annual "Effective Assistance" photography award from the U.S. InterAction network of disaster and development agencies.
Based on InterAction's long-running Global Partnership for Effective Assistance campaign, the contest attracted 170 entries across its seven categories: basic education, health care, refugee and disaster response, peace and democracy, job and business skills, women and girls, and reducing hunger.
California-based Grobl, whose picture won both the basic education category and the overall prize, has worked in Africa, Asia and Latin America, with an emphasis in recent years on indigenous cultures. Among his latest projects is a worldwide photo documentary for Health Volunteers Overseas, and work on daily life in Cuba.
The photographic prize was one of a series of awards announced or awarded at the annual InterAction Forum in Washington, attended by 500 aid staff, government officials and business leaders.
InterAction's Humanitarian Award went to Beatrice Were, former executive coordinator of Uganda's International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW). Run by and for HIV-positive women, ICW "aims to reduce the isolation of women living with HIV/AIDS by exchanging information on health issues, self-help, human rights and setting up local support networks".
A social worker and mother living with HIV for the past 11 years, Were founded the National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (NACWOLA), and started the Ugandan Memory Project which supports HIV-positive women to pass on their family history to their children. The project is being extended to other African countries.
This year's Mildred Robbins Leet Award for the Advancement of Women went to the veteran international education NGO World Learning "in recognition of their efforts in integrating gender equity in their programs and management".
Established in 1932, World Learning promotes girls' education and rights from Guatemala to Benin and former Yugoslavia, offers gender and development courses, runs student exchanges and is an accredited degree-granting institution. Practising what it preaches, women make up 54 percent of World Learning's board of directors, 57 percent of senior management and about a quarter of field office director positions.
InterAction also recognises politicians making contributions to policy and funding for international relief and development and the 2003 InterAction Congressional Service Awards went to Republican Senator Chuck Hagel from Nebraska and Democratic Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois.
Hagel was selected "for his commitment and support for the people of Afghanistan in their efforts to rebuild their nation and restore peace and stability" and for his work on Iraq and on increased U.S. commitments to fund overseas aid.
Durbin's award cited "his leadership and commitment to combating HIV/AIDS worldwide", promoting girls' education, and his support for international food aid and micro-enterprise programmes.
The InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting was given to Anne Garrels, who has spent 15 years covering foreign affairs with National Public Radio, most recently from Baghdad. Her career has taken in Tiananmen Square, the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Chechnya, and -- since September 11, 2001 -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and the West Bank.
LINKS
Karl Grobl: Grobl http://www.karlgrobl.com/ Richard Durbin: http://durbin.senate.gov/ Chuck Hagel: http://hagel.senate.gov/ InterAction: http://www.interaction.org/ ICW: http://www.icw.org// NACWOLA: http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/nacwola.html/ National Public Radio: http://www.npr.org/
A nurse vaccinates a would-be pilgrim against H1N1 in a health centre in Cairo, November 8, 2009, ahead of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Egypt received the second batch of H1N1 ...
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