Thame charity founder awarded Beacon Prize (Contributed)

DR Peter Carey has been awarded the Beacon Prize for Leadership for his work in co-founding the Cambodia Trust and leading its expansion across Cambodia into Timor Leste, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, making a positive impact on the lives of over 30,000 landmine survivors and other disadvantaged disabled people.

The prize was awarded at a ceremony in London on November 18th 2008.

Peter is just one of six recipients of the 2008 Beacon Prize and joins the ranks of previous Beacon winners such as Sir Bob Geldof, Jamie Oliver and environmentalist Zac Goldsmith, who have all been recognised for their charitable work through what has become known as the ‘Nobel Prize of the charity world’, a phrase first coined by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Cambodia Trust has developed rehabilitation services for disadvantaged disabled people in four developing countries and trained local staff to run these services in the long-term. Peter helped to found the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics (CSPO), where students from Cambodia and other developing countries are trained to internationally-recognised standards to prescribe and fit prosthetic limbs and orthopaedic braces, which are essential for the rehabilitation of people affected by landmines, polio, leprosy and other conditions.

Peter has a strong commitment to ensuring that his projects are sustainable and so has placed great emphasis on working in partnership with local government and NGOs. The aim is to build local capacity so that projects can eventually be handed over to local, trained management.

Under Peter’s leadership: 122 students have graduated from CSPO, including enough Cambodians to staff all the rehabilitation centres in Cambodia. Around 30,500 limbs and braces are being fitted by CSPO graduates annually, enabling thousands of landmine survivors and other disabled people to gain self-sufficiency. Over 80% of children receiving rehabilitation at the Trust’s rehabilitation centres go on to start school once their mobility is improved; over 230 disabled children receive the support they need to attend school every year; around 150 disabled adults a year are assisted to start vocational training or on-the-job training, with 80% accessing work thereafter; 612 adults have received start-up support to establish small businesses; 9 former CSPO students have graduated with Bachelor’s degrees, enabling a phasing out of expatriate staff at CSPO as Cambodians qualify as lecturers and leaders.

CSPO has also trained prosthetists from Afghanistan, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Timor Leste, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Japan, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Martyn Lewis, former Chairman of Beacon, who hosted Tuesday’s Prize Ceremony, said: “The impact of Peter’s work is truly outstanding, not only because of the sheer numbers of landmine victims and disabled people who have received assistance, but also because of the local capacity he has built through training up professionals and working closely with local people.”

Speaking just ahead of the ceremony, Peter said: “I am delighted to win a Beacon Prize and I sincerely hope that it will focus attention what can be a forgotten problem ? the physical disabilities that landmine survivors can be left with. A great deal can be done for them and lives can be rebuilt but this requires international support and resources.”

As well as receiving his award, Peter was inaugurated as a Beacon Fellow, a community of Beacon Prize winners who together champion charitable causes across the globe and nurture a wider culture of giving in the UK.