The Vice President of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), Gustavo Parajon, has been named as the 2006 recipient of the prestigious Baptist World Alliance Human Rights Award.
Parajon, who is also a medical doctor and clergyman, will receive the award, which was previously only handed out once every five years, but has now been made an annual award following a vote at the BWA Centenary Congress held in July 2005 in Birmingham, England.The award is given in recognition of "significant and effective activities to secure, protect, restore or preserve human rights," and is set to be handed out at the General Council/Annual Gathering of the BWA, held 3-8 July this year in Mexico City.
As a recognised figure in relief and development work, Dr Parajon has a reputation as a leading Nicaraguan evangelical, and is praised for his contributions to the evangelical movements and Baptist witness in his country.
Parajon has founded two major organisations.
One is PROVADENIC (Nicaragua Vaccination and community Development Program), founded in 1967, and was started in partnership with the First Baptist Church of Cleveland in the United States, the Nicaraguan Baptist Convention and the First Baptist Church of Managua. It is a primary health care program that serves 25 rural communities by training local health promoters to treat and prevent common illnesses.
The second organisation, CEPAD (Nicaraguan Council of Evangelical Churches), was founded in 1972 as an interdenominational relief organisation to aid victims after an earthquake severely damaged the capital Managua and other parts of the country, taking more than 10,000 lives. CEPAD has broadened its ministry and now serves congregations of approximately 45 different member denominations and the population at large with emergency relief, development, and reconciliation programs.
