Forum Awards

Each year, InterAction acknowledges the contribution of individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the world's most poor and vulnerable people. Awards to be presented at Forum 2013 are as follows:

Julia Vadala Taft Outstanding Leadership Award

The Julia Vadala Taft Outstanding Leadership Award honors outstanding and distinguished leaders in the community of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations. The award celebrates the leadership of an individual within this community whose career and vision has transcended his or her own organization by raising the influence and profile of the U.S. NGO sector as a whole. It celebrates the very best of who we are as a sector

This year's Julia Vadala Taft award goes to a distinguished American humanitarian who served in a series of senior positions, including president of InterAction twice. She mobilized the NGO community to curb poverty and relieve human suffering abroad; her leadership has and will continue to inspire the NGO community. The 2013 award winner is Jo Luck.

After teaching in Nashville, Tennessee; San Diego, California and Little Rock, Arkansas, Jo Luck became involved in politics. She worked for Arkansas Governors Bumpers, Pryor, White and Clinton. She served on Governor Clinton's state cabinet as Director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism from 1979-1989. From there, she served as International Program Director at antihunger NGO Heifer International before becoming President & CEO from 1992-2011. During that time, the nonprofit grew from an annual income of $7 million to $130 million, providing sustainable development assistance and dignity to millions of small-holder farmers and families in developing countries and the U.S.

Currently Jo Luck works as a consultant on global food security issues and female empowerment in developing countries. She serves as Chair of the Program Oversight Panel for Aquatic Agricultural Systems for WorldFish (CGIAR) based in Penang, Malaysia. Additionally, she is a President Obama appointee to the Board for International Food and Agriculture Development (BIFAD) advising the Administrator of USAID in the State Department; a member of the Global Agriculture Development International Committee, Chicago Council of Global Affairs and a member of the DuPont Advisory Committee on Agricultural Innovation and Productivity for the 21st Century.

She has traveled to 65 countries while visiting rural, poverty-stricken communities or presiding over board meetings in her work. She attributes her success to never compromising her core values and truly listening to those that she serves.

She is the proud mother of Beth Wilson Gray, Professor of Emergency Management, Arkansas Tech University and Mark Wilson, Digital Marketing Director, G-Squared Company, in addition to her son-in-law Paul Gray, who has won awards in Human Geography education.

Humanitarian Award

Each year InterAction recognizes an individual or individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership in support of NGOs and the people they serve in the developing world. Our community’s national staff and counterparts often surmount significant obstacles to carry out their work effectively in their own home countries or regions. InterAction seeks to honor these individuals for their bravery and commitment to the most vulnerable populations in their own communities.

The award is meant to recognize individuals whose work reflects important leadership qualities (such as courage, initiative, creativity, grace under pressure, integrity, personal sacrifice) and who have made significant contributions in the developing world to any of the following areas: disaster relief, human development, refugee assistance, civil society, equitable economic development, health, environment, education, population or public policy.  The 2013 award winner is Samer Al Laham.

Samer Al Laham is the driving force behind one of the largest humanitarian efforts in Syria, providing assistance to those in need without regard to religious, ethnic or political affiliations. He serves as CEO of the Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development for the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East (GOPA) based in Damascus, Syria. Under Laham’s leadership, the Department has worked tirelessly to provide more than $31 million in emergency and humanitarian services for Iraqi refugees and the disadvantaged in Syria, offering education, vocational training, small business development and psychosocial support.

With the outbreak of violence in Syria inflicting hardship on millions of its citizens, Laham has courageously led his 120 staff members to provide food, medical supplies, psychosocial support and other survival items for people in need across the country. In the face of bombardments, fighting, bombings and constant fear of threat, Laham and his staff have persevered to provide humanitarian assistance to more than 300,000 vulnerable Syrian children, families and elderly people.

Laham’s department enjoys partnerships with more than 20 international NGOs as well as with the UNHCR, UNDP, OCHA, the EU and numerous European embassies. Since 2007, the Department has worked closely with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC).

Laham was born in Damascus in 1960 and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at Damascus University.

Congressional Leadership Award

The Disability Inclusion Award recognizes member agencies that have worked toward greater disability inclusion in programs/management and have expanded leadership opportunities for people with disabilities. The award recognizes our own community’s innovative efforts to promote disability inclusion as a human rights issue. The 2013 award winner is Habitat for Humanity International.

Habitat for Humanity International views accessibility and the inclusion of disabled people as essential to its programs. It has demonstrated effective and innovative grassroots programs that promote both inclusion and empowerment of disabled individuals. The award specifically recognizes Habitat’s programs that promote community living for individuals with intellectual disabilities in Romania, psychosocial support for individuals with mental disabilities in Kyrgyzstan and job skills development and soft loans for initiating business enterprises in Indonesia.

Effective Assistance Photography Award

Each year InterAction’s photography contest honors a photographer whose provocative photos focus on the incredible humanitarian and development work done in the field. The photographer's work illustrates innovative, effective and inspiring efforts in international relief and development. The 2013 award winner is Ismail Ferdous.

Ismail Ferdous lives in Bangladesh and thinks of himself as a storyteller who tells people's tales through his lens.

Ismail is a graduate of East West University and has won over 15 national and international awards, including the 2012 Award of Excellence from the Alexia Foundation. He was also featured as the Young Portfolio Photographer (KMOPA, Japan) in 2011 and 2012. In addition, he has won the 2011 WHO-World Aids Award, the 2011 National Save-Water Award (AU) and the 2012 People and Planet Award. He has also been selected as one of the top artists in South Asia by the World Bank.

His work has been exhibited at the Power House Museum; KELOWNA Art Gallery; II Concurso Internacional de Fotografía Sant Just Desvern in Barcelona; POST Emaho Exhibiton in Singapore; Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Art in Japan; the People & Planet exhibition in Victoria, Australia; the Humanizing Development Global Photography Campaign exhibition in New York, London, Bangkok and Johannesburg; and the Drik Gallery and Shilpakola Gallery in Bangladesh. His work has been published in magazines such as The New Yorker, the UK’s Professional Photographer Magazine and EMAHO.

Award for Excellence in International Reporting

InterAction’s annual Award for Excellence in International Reporting recognizes exemplary reporting by a U.S.-based journalist who has informed and educated U.S. audiences about international development and/or humanitarian affairs. The 2013 award winner is Christopher Dawson.

Christopher Dawson became the Lead Producer for CNN’s Impact Your World in 2007. Over the next four years, he built this new project into an award-winning cross-platform initiative for CNN, CNN International, HLN, CNN.com, CNN Mobile and CNN Radio.
Impact Your World shares the stories of great need and inspirational charities and volunteers that make a difference. Dawson would find specific ways for viewers to become empowered and take action. He would direct them to his articles on the website www.cnn.com/impact.

Dawson also expanded Impact Your World to offer an immediate viewer response for breaking news. This became paramount when natural disasters struck. CNN networks would show graphic banners, charity interviews and correspondents providing viewers a singular way to help with Impact Your World. Dawson was directly responsible for each disaster response and this culminated in award-winning, extensive coverage on the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In 2011 Dawson moved to another empowering series with CNN Special Projects but he kept viewers’ attention on Haiti’s recovery with articles on the cholera epidemic and charities struggling to rebuild the devastated country. Christopher won the ShelterBox Global Media Award in 2011 for his continued focus on Haiti’s recovery. He has continued to write articles on the many ways viewers can get involved, from disaster relief to online volunteering.

Security Advisory Group’s Distinguished Achievement Award

The InterAction Security Advisory Group Distinguished Achievement Award recognizes exceptional performance by NGO security professionals, particularly those who significantly contribute to NGOs' abilities to protect their personnel, assets, information or operations overseas. The 2013 award winner is Abdul Qadir Arbab.

Qadir Arbab began working for the International Rescue Committee in November 2000. In November 2005, he began coordinating security for the entire IRC Pakistan program. Arbab assisted the transition of the INGO Security Forum into the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum Security Coordination Unit. This unit was created out of a need for a funded security coordination body in Pakistan that represented the interests of its 34 NGO members. Arbab has been recognized by his colleagues for his ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with other NGOs as well as UN Department of Safety and Security colleagues.

Prior to joining IRC in 2000, Arbab worked with UNHCR for three years and assisted Afghan refugees in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He also served on assignment with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).

 2012 Award Winners