Cartoon Competition Winner Donates Prize to Afghan Red Crescent

Basir Ahmad Hamaid, a winner of the Center for International Private Enterprise’s (CIPE) 2011 Global Editorial Cartoon Competition, donated his $1,000 prize to the Afghan Red Crescent Society in a ceremony in Kabul on May 8, International Red Cross/Red Crescent Day. Hamaid won first place in the Gender Equality category. The donation was accepted on behalf of the Red Crescent Society by Amena Afzali, Afghanistan’s Minister of Labor, Work, and Social Affairs, who is also on the board of the Afhgan Red Crescent.

“I congratulate Basir on his success and his success is a great encouraging factor for the rests of the youths in our country,” Afzali said. “The feeling of Basir who donated his cash award to the Afghan Red Crescent Society really reflects his sincere feeling toward our people and I greatly appreciate it.”

“I really thank CIPE for providing me an important opportunity to submit my cartoon to reflect the problem of gender inequality in Afghanistan,” Hamaid said. “My cartoon explains thousands of words.”

Also in attendance were the ambassadors of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq, the chiefs of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, several deputy ministers from the Afghan government, civil society representatives, and local news media.

“This donation reflects Basir’s generosity and feelings to help his fellow country men and women,” said Mohammad Nasib, CIPE Country Director for Afghanistan, speaking at the event.

Hamaid works as a finance/funding officer in the Mazar-e-Sharif office of the German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). He first became aware of CIPE after attending a CIPE-sponsoring training program in Mazar-e-Sharif several years ago.

CIPE recently announced the launch of the 2012 Cartoon Competition, which will be accepting submissions until July 15, 2012. Find out more at www.cipe.org/cartoon/.