Motivation Charity Director awarded MBE in New Year Honours List
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David Constantine, co-founder of the international development organisation Motivation has been awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours List.
David co-founded
the charity Motivation in 1991, with colleagues Richard Frost and Simon
Gue after studying for an MA in Industrial Design at the Royal College
of Art, London. Motivation is best known for supporting disabled people
through the design and provision of wheelchairs that are appropriate
for the developing world.
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David said “I am delighted that the role I enjoy so much has been considered worthy of an honour. Disability in low-income countries is a serious and often overlooked issue. Over 20 million people with mobility disabilities worldwide are in desperate need of a wheelchair and face a life of exclusion simply because they are unable to leave their home, move around their community and take part in society.”
Since 1991 Motivation has been working through partner organisations overseas to ensure that local people are trained to build quality equipment according to the needs of disabled people in their community.
Motivation has also developed Worldmade, a global programme to provide appropriate wheelchairs for people with disabilities all over the developing world. Through this programme Motivation helps organisations in low income countries to establish wheelchair services, supplying organisations with a wide range of flat packed mobility products, offering people with disabilities a choice of product that is most suited to their needs. Worldmade products are shipped flat packed, easy to assemble and fitted to the size of each individual by locally trained staff.
An example of the Worldmade range is the highly successful three wheel Rough Terrain wheelchair, which has proved extremely popular in monsoon, desert and mountainous contexts. A further example is the sports wheelchair which has been developed to help foster grassroots sports in developing countries.
Since 1991 Motivation has worked in over 30 countries and has become one of the leading organisations in its field. The organisation was instrumental in the development of the recently published World Health Organisation (WHO) Guidelines on the provision of Manual Wheelchairs in less resourced settings (2008). Prior to the publication of these Guidelines, no consensus previously existed to promote the needs of wheelchair users or to define the obligations and responsibilities of wheelchair providers.
Today, designing and providing wheelchairs, together with the supply of supportive seating and artificial limbs, is just part of the work Motivation does. Its work has expanded to include peer mentoring, income generation schemes and lobbying governments and international organisations to promote and uphold the rights of disabled people worldwide.
David went onto say, “I am proud to be part of such an important and far-reaching organisation and would like to thank the Motivation team, both in the UK and overseas who help to carry out the work. We would not have been able to achieve so much without the generous support of the partner organisations, supporters and funders who for the past 19 years have shared our vision.”
Richard Frost, Motivation's Executive Officer, said:
“I am absolutely
thrilled for David, this Honour is truly deserved. This wonderful achievement
could not have come at a better time, as Motivation will soon celebrate its
20th anniversary.”
email press@motivation.org.uk
telephone 01275 464012