The Revd John Deane, Executive Director of the Anglican Board of Mission in Australia, has been awarded ACFID Outstanding Contribution to the Sector Award 2016 by the Board of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).
Revd John Deane, who is also a Trustee of the Anglican Alliance and the Chair of its Advisory Council, was presented with his award at the 2016 ACFID Conference Gala Dinner on Wednesday 26th October.
The key criterion for the award is whether the whole Australian aid and development NGO sector has benefited from an individual’s or organisation’s contribution over an extended period of time.
As stated in a letter to Revd Deane from ACFID President Sam Mostyn:
“The award is in recognition of your many years of outstanding service on the Committee for Development Cooperation (CDC) to the benefit of the Australian aid and development sector. …It is the quality of this service that we wish to recognise; the combination of understanding the challenges of accreditation; experience and sympathy for running smaller and mid-sized NGOs, appreciation of the necessity of a reasonable standard of regulation; . . . your strong sense of the independence of the Australian NGO sector, and stout commitment to the separation of religious activities from development activities yet a deep valuing of the importance of faith in development.”
Revd John Deane said that over the years, the CDC has benefited from some really supportive people in government working to assist cooperation between the Australian Government and NGOs. He said that there is an increased recognition that NGOs are making a valuable and important contribution to the Aid Program, both here and overseas. NGOs have a greater ability to work at the grass-roots level within communities, delivering tangible benefits that people can see.
Revd Rachel Carnegie, Co-Executive Director of the Anglican Alliance, said: “All of us at the Anglican Alliance wish to congratulate John on this outstanding achievement- and salute him for all that he has done to build effectiveness and partnerships in the development sector, including with Anglican organisations. This award is certainly richly deserved.“
“Through his leadership of the Anglican Board of Mission, the Anglican Alliance as a whole, and many provinces in the Communion, have benefited from his vision and wisdom,” Rachel added.
