Update Feb. 23, 2019: The Kellogg Institute's Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity has rescinded the portion of the 2014 Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Development and Solidarity that recognized Jean Vanier, issuing a statement emphasizing that the original co-recipient of the award, L'Arche International, retains the honor. Kellogg Institute website news articles have been edited to reflect this change.
L'Arche will receive this year's Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Human Development and Solidarity in recognition of the organization's groundbreaking work in service of the poor and vulnerable around the world. L'Arche is an international federation of communities for people with disabilities that promotes their human dignity while celebrating the power of positivity and friendship.
The organization was founded on the precept that true happiness is to love and be loved, a value incorporated into LArche's philosophy of accompaniment and service, calling the world to recognize the tremendous gifts of people who have all too often been rejected by society.
Beginning with one house in France 50 years ago, L'Arche has grown to become a worldwide network of more than 130 communities committed to sharing the lives of people with disabilities.
"In L'Arche communities, something extremely simple yet very powerful takes place," says Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, director of the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, which presents the Award. "The so-called disabled and those with whom they live and work grow in awareness of their God-given value. This awareness encourages people to develop and share their talents and leads to authentic human development."
This year's award ceremony will take place on October 23, 2014, at the University of Notre Dame's Rome Global Gateway as part of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies Conference on Human Dignity and Human Development. The international conference will bring together academics and practitioners from around the world to explore different understandings of human dignity in the context of development – and the implications of a comprehensive respect for human dignity for the practice of development.
The Ford Family Notre Dame Award for International Human Development and Solidarity recognizes substantial contributions to human development through research, practice, public service, or philanthropy. Recipients are honored for standing in solidarity with those in deepest need, supporting them to become agents of their own change.
Past recipients of the Notre Dame Award include social entrepreneur Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and Founder of Acumen; development economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen; Partners In Health, whose cofounders Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl accepted the award on its behalf; and Patti and Ray Chambers, the United Nations Secretary General's Special Envoy for Malaria.