Duke of Edinburgh Award secretary-general visits

Newly appointed Duke of Edinburgh Award International Association secretary-general David Manson was in Malta late last month to visit its Malta counterpart, the President's Award scheme.

Mr Manson, 40, has a banking background, having spent 16 years with Standard Chartered, mainly in the Far East.

The Duke of Edinburgh Award International Foundation has Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, as its chairman, and has ten trustees. They are international, multicultural and multinational, three of them from the UK.

Mr Manson has a CEO role, with a staff of 12 in the secretariat in London, and is reaching out to the business community for support. Apart from being at the service of the trustees, he also keeps in contact with 60 countries that have national award associations and 53 operations that operate at an independent level - 113 in all.

Asked about his first impressions of the President's Award (formerly known as the Duke of Edinburgh Award), Mr Manson said although it had long been established - 43 years ago this year as opposed to 48 for the Duke of Edinburgh Award - it continues to grow both in quality through the various exchange programmes it undertakes and quantity.

"I am pleased that the President's Award is being extended to a number of centres," he said.

He is full of praise for the local award's participation in the international association's activities, since Malta is a Council member and has been giving assistance to other national associations. Among those seeking to join are Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia, apart from Turkey.

"We deliver what we can with the resources we have," he said, urging the local business community to support the President's Award.

Looking ahead he is hopeful that there will be a high-profile event next year and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh Award in 2006 (and the 45th anniversary of the President's Award).