The Humanitarian Hero Award
The AidEx Humanitarian Hero Award was won by Dr Mohammed Ashmawey, CEO of Human Appeal on 16 November in Brussels at AidEx 2022.
The AidEx Humanitarian Hero Award sets out to recognise and celebrate stand-out individuals from the humanitarian aid and development community.
The three shortlisted finalists also included Qasim Rashid Ahmad, Founder and Executive Chairman of Al-Khair Foundation and Gehad Hamdy, Founder and Managing Director, Speak Up. All finalists have shown signs of resilience, strength, leadership and dedication to making the world a better place and all who have made the shortlist are to be celebrated.
Winner background
· Dr. Mohamed Ashmawey is CEO of Human Appeal since 2019. Prior to that he was also leading another global charity and has dedicated half his professional life to working for humanitarian causes and NGOs.
· Dr Ashmawey has served as a member of the Board of Directors of prominent non-profits, including Mercy International and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and as the president of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA) from 1993 to 1998.
· His energy and focus has transformed the UK NGO he took over as CEO in 2019 (Human Appeal) and today it is the fastest growing international NGO within the UK's faith-based charity sector.
· The new initiatives he introduced to Human Appeal have allowed the charity to grow and expand into major new markets such as the USA under his stewardship.
The Young Humanitarian Hero Award
Jessica Adams is the Head of Marketing and Communications for Syria Relief and its parent organisation, Action For Humanity.
The campaign Jessica executed in May 2022, which included an advocacy report written by her, which she secured an exclusive in The Guardian and supported with an op-ed in the Independent, highlighted that 133 of her organisation’s schools were due to close due to a reduction in funding. In a few short weeks, her campaign secured enough funding to keep the schools open, thanks in part to securing a meeting with FCDO – meaning she is directly responsible for 40,000 Syrian children staying in school and reducing the risk of child marriage, child labour and the other growing harms that children in Northwest Syria are at risk of.
Through devising creative mass-market campaigns like Christmas and winter appeals, or through targeted campaigns appealing to specific demographic like Muslim donors, she has been responsible for a 203% rise in online donations alone to the organisation in her first two years at the organisation. Another striking campaign she led was with the English Football Association and former Premier League Footballer Mohammed Sissoko, where she organised the FA to donate thousands of items of England kit and football gear and took Mr Sissoko and trained FA coaches to a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon to distribute the kit, give football lessons to the children and to raise awareness and funds to help projects like this, which championed psychosocial support and the inclusion of girls into sports, as well as the physical aspects.
In her time at the organisation, she has overseen the exponential rise in reputation and media appearances of the organisation, ensuring the communications activity highlighted such important issues as the prevalence of PTSD symptoms amongst refugees and IDPs, the impact of air strikes on educational facilities in Syria and how war crimes are being normalised. She also ensured that Syria Relief’s communications activity ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Syrian Civil War meant that the global media paid it more attention and raised public awareness in March 2021. She also manages, leads and mentors a team of young NGO creatives, all of whom are under 30 too, building their skills and driving capacity, helping foster the next generation of young humanitarians, and sharing with them her values of prioritising the dignity of the beneficiary above anything and championing localisation.
Aid Innovation Challenge
On 16 November 2022 in Brussels at AidEx, the Aid Innovation Challenge was won by German Ercelliance, for their product German Portable Oxigen System (GEPOS)– the smallest and lightest transportable system for the production of medical oxygen for clinical use in the world.
ABOUT THE WINNER
Medical oxygen is often not available in crisis regions. After natural or humanitarian disasters with increased numbers of victims or even just in very rural areas, the medical infrastructure may collapse or be insufficient.
In many cases, the logistical infrastructure is also inadequate, making it difficult to transport liquid oxygen or O2 cylinders. Transporting O2 cylinders is also very costly, time-consuming, dangerous and ties up manpower that could be used for other important tasks. In short, the transport of medical oxygen is inefficient, inflexible and unsustainable.
With German Erecelliance’s Portable Oxygen System GEPOS you avoid all the abovementioned difficulties and achieve an increased level of speed, flexibility, cost savings and sustainability in the supply of medical oxygen.
How it works:
· Plug & Play: Open the lid, press the button and medical oxygen is delivered within 90 seconds.
· Can produce 20 l/min. of medical oxygen (93 % ± 3 %)
· Can be connected directly to multiple medical devices.
· O2 cylinders, can be avoided
· Cheaper than liquid oxygen or O2 cylinders
· Low maintenance costs
· Robust, durable yet lightweight military-standard housing, approved for any aircraft transport
· Housing is air-, water- and sand-tight
· The system has wheels, can be pulled by one person and is stackable
· Can be used at altitudes up to 5000 meters
· online control and support via VPN Network
