LONDON, United Kingdom – Vincentian Renwick Rose has won the 2011 Guardian International Development Achievement award ahead of four others finalists.
The award is designed to recognise some of the unsung heroes of international development — people who have made a profound contribution to the alleviation of poverty, working above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference to the lives of some of the world’s poorest people, according to the British newspaper.
“To have been considered for nomination for this award, much more becoming a finalist, could not have been further from my thoughts five or six months ago,” Rose, a community activist and social commentator said in his response.
“What an honour for a simple man from a small-island chain with a population more than 100 times smaller than that of the London metropolis. To go on to win such a prestigious award is nothing short of miraculous,’ added Rose, who is celebrated for his work with banana farmers in St. Vincent and the Windward Islands.
“We needed to look beyond just producing and complaining about markets and looking to see how we could link up with other forces in the world and what we could do to try and influence the trends in world trade which were affecting us,” Renwick Rose says as he talks about his work with the Windward Islands Farmers’ Association (WINFA)
More in a subsequent story…