The Charity Awards are one of the sector’s most prestigious events. National disability charity Livability’s global database has been shortlisted from hundreds of entries in the Disability category. The 2013 winners will be announced on 13th June 2013.
Livability Overseas began working in South & South-East Asia in 1995, with a primary focus upon nursing and nursing education. Since then they have helped to pioneer www.elearnSCI.org , a web-based teaching and educational resource, designed to specifically address the lack of professional development opportunities for medical and other professionals involved in Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Management.
ElearnSCI.org is a free web-based teaching resource, appropriate for all medical and other health disciplines involved in SCI management, whether a student or an SCI practitioner. It is therefore of great interest and use to doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, assistive technologists, psychologists, social workers and peer counsellors.
Livability harnessed the experience and expertise within the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) and its affiliate societies worldwide, getting input from 332 SCI professionals. It approached a donor agency in Denmark to secure funding and after the first funds were released in September 2010, the first project planning meeting was held in October that year.
In the first eight months after its launch, www.elearnSCI.org was accessed by 14,365 people from 140 countries. More than 195,000 web pages have been viewed.
One unexpected outcome of the project was the potential for peer-led professional development as experts from different countries with different levels of resources collaborated on the content of discipline-specific modules. A follow-on project is already being discussed with the sponsor to support wider dissemination of the information through translations, workshops and training programmes.
Sustainability is assured because the site is seen as an initiative of ISCoS, and according to Stephen Muldoon, the charity’s head of overseas development, “within the ISCoS family the resource is in safe hands”. Livability is hoping to pick up the coveted award for its global database at a glittering ceremony in London on 13 June. If it wins its category it will also be in the running to pick up the Overall Award for Excellence, which is selected from the 10 category winners.
The Charity Awards is the highest profile event in the charity calendar. All 30 shortlisted charities this year have been judged by an independent panel of sector leaders as having demonstrated outstanding best practice from which other organisations can learn.
Maggie and Stephen Muldoon from Livability Overseas comments:
“We are delighted to have been nominated for this award. This project is really close to our hearts and it is great to see it recognised in such a way.”
Daniel Phelan, organiser of The Charity Awards comments:
“In being shortlisted Livability has demonstrated exceptional performance against as many of the ten hallmarks of excellence as possible. I wish them the best of luck on the night.”
John Low, chief executive of Charities Aid Foundation, overall sponsors of the Charity Awards, comments:
“I would like to congratulate and commend all the shortlisted charities this year, as well as everyone who took the time to submit an application. Once again the calibre of entries was very impressive – at a time when the sector, indeed the country, is under such financial pressure, The Charity Awards gives us all the opportunity to step back, reflect and be inspired.”
Livability, 6 Mitre Passage, London SE10 0ER.
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