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Interviewer: For the introduction, can you tell us about your organization, and particularly your work for Handicap in Syria?

Beth MacNairn: Sure. Handicap International was founded 31 years ago. It was founded in a refugee crisis, and to work with landmine victims, people who had lost limbs. To this day, we are still working in crises, natural disasters, and in refugee settings like Syria. Our work has also expanded to include working with many different kinds of disabilities in many different kinds of contexts. We work in 61 countries: in development contexts, in landmines and weapons contexts like in Libya, and in natural disasters and in conflicts. Today, in Syria, we are working in the northwest part of the country, helping people who either chose to remain within Syria or who are trapped in the country to access basic physical rehabilitation services.

Interviewer: What has the prize meant to your organization?

Beth MacNairn: Handicap International was awarded the prize in 2011, and that was just following the Haiti earthquake, where we launched a massive response, again, for the injured. So in 2010 we responded to Haiti, and the prize allowed us to put the spotlight on the needs of people with injuries and with disabilities in natural disasters and in conflicts. These populations are often left out of humanitarian response. They're often invisible to humanitarian organizations who are responding, and to donors. This prize allowed us to talk about the fragile social systems that sustain people with disabilities, and their vulnerability in the case of massive dislocation.

Interviewer: Can you describe where and how your organization is involved in collaborating projects?

Beth MacNairn: The Hilton laureates have developed a collaborative project, and one of the first projects is an emerging leadership project that is looking at bringing the next generation of nonprofit social change leaders into the fold. This project is starting in Haiti. We've been present in Haiti for a number of years, well before the earthquake, and like a number of other laureates, we continue to do work there in a variety of fields.

So this collaborative project is really about bringing together organizations that are working on a variety of social and economic development projects and programs in Haiti, coming together and working with the Hilton Foundation and the Laureates Collaborative to provide opportunity for young leaders to work with us across laureates, to see how our organizations work together.

Interviewer: Thank you very much, Beth.

Beth MacNairn: Thank you so much.