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02 November 2011
The Vodafone Foundation is pleased to announced that the winner of the Grahame Maher World of Difference Award 2011 is Frederique Kallen from the Netherlands whose chosen charity is Mama Alice www.mamaalice.com. Frederique will receive £100,000 to further the work of Mama Alice in providing education, welfare and training programmes for street children around the world:
Frederique Kallen’s charity Mama Alice will use the prize money to set-up a free support line for abused children in Peru. The runners up, Sue Van Schreven from New Zealand whose chosen charity is Orphan Aid International www.orphansaidinternational.org and Nick Eastcott from the UK whose chosen charity is AFRIKIDS www.afrikids.org will each receive £10,000. Sue Van Schreven will use her runner up prize money to benefit the 2.7 million orphaned children in Uganda and Nick Eastcott’s runner up prize money will benefit child rights charity AfriKids operating in Northern Ghana.
“Congratulations to the finalists who were of exceptional quality, all being truly inspirational, passionate about their chosen charity and determined to make a sustainable difference. They all proposed projects that made full use of their experience and knowledge which are of benefit, not only to the charity but also to the broader community for the future,” said Andrew Dunnett, Director, Vodafone Foundation.
The Grahame Maher Award strengthens the Vodafone Foundation's commitment to the World of Difference programme whilst paying tribute to one of the company’s most inspiring leaders. The award will be run for three years from 2011. All previous World of Difference winners from around the world are eligible to apply for the award with the winner each year being awarded £100,000 to continue their charitable work.
The award was established in memory of Grahame Maher, the late CEO of Vodafone Qatar. Grahame pioneered the launch of the Vodafone World of Difference programme in New Zealand back in 2002. Today there are 21 Vodafone Foundations running World of Difference programmes across the globe, giving people from all walks of life the opportunity to be paid to work for a charity of their choice, making a real difference to communities and charitable projects at home or abroad.
“Grahame would be so proud of this award and also humbled to see how a small idea can grow into a programme that can touch so many lives all over the world. I would personally like to thank Vodafone for enabling me to be a part of this, and for continuing to live his passion through this programme that he started 10 years ago,” said Jenny Maher, Grahame’s widow. “Grahame had a unique ability to be able to connect with everyone he met, I hope through this award that I will be able to live his mantra of “Dream it, Believe it, Do it!” and with Vodafone , continue to “Make a World of Difference””.
The entrants were initially judged by their local Vodafone Foundation. Once the finalists were selected, members of the public were able to vote for their preferred winner via Facebook. As a result of the vote, global finalists were selected and judged by an expert panel in the UK who selected the last 3 finalists. The winner was selected by a judging panel in Doha Qatar.
The winner Frederique Kallen will be followed throughout the year via www.vodafone.com/worldofdiffernece.
For more information on the Grahame Maher Award, visit vodafone.com/grahamemaherawards
