Erste Foundation Bond
The winners of the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration 2011!
Yesterday night, on 20 June 2011, over 650 representatives from the civil society and from business and media organisations gathered in Prague’s famous Barrandov Studios to applaud this year’s winners of the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration 2011. 37 social integration projects were selected by an international jury from 132 shortlisted projects, which in turn had been ranked by experts from a total of 1,850 applications. The winners share in a total of 613,000 euros in money prizes.
In addition, six special prizes were awarded: two by the jury; three by the 132 shortlisted organisations, who voted for the best peer projects (awarded with 15,000 euros each); and one by the employees of Erste Group, who voted for their favourite social integration project.
Here are the 3 outstanding winners:
The First Prize (40,000 euros) was awarded to:
The Shelter and Counselling Centre for Women and Children Victims of Violence / Croatia
The Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb (AZKZ) has been enormously influential in pioneering support for victims of domestic violence in Croatia. At an undisclosed address, women and children affected by this societal scourge are given the time, space, and expert help they need to recover and rebuild their lives. Even by the highest international standards, the “Shelter and Counselling Centre for Women and Children Victims of Violence” is extraordinarily successful. It has a +90% success rate in preventing returns to violent situations; the women who recover there all leave the shelter capable of supporting themselves and their children. Starting out in the 1980s when domestic violence was legally ignored and no provision was made for its victims, AZKZ has paved the way in asserting women’s rights to a life without violence.
The Second Prize (30,000 euros) was awarded to:
The Roma Press Agency / Slovak Republic
For more information on this winning project, click here.
The Third Prize (20,000 euros) was awarded to:
The Roses of Saint Francis Homeless Shelter in Rijeka / Croatia
For more information on this winning project, click here.
To learn more about all 37 winning projects of the Award for Social Integration, click here!
Full information on the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration is available at:
www.integrationaward.org
Photo: Copyright: ERSTE Foundation. Photographer: Davor Konjikusic