ERSTE FOUNDATION AWARD FOR SOCIAL INTEGRATION

The ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration is designed to promote and recognise organisations in the public and non-profit sectors that engage people’s abilities, capacities, and initiatives for socially-oriented practice and progressive change in society. The Award is integral to the ERSTE Foundation Social Affairs programme, which emphasises a commitment to human and cultural diversity, holistic human development, social and economic justice, and individual and group self-determination.

The ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration (referred to hereafter as the Award) adds value to social practice by highlighting innovative projects in Central and South Eastern European countries (CSEE). The Award gives due recognition to the role of individuals and groups in that region in creating societies with equal opportunities for everyone. Social integration is applied here to mean policies and programmes which foster stable, safe and just societies and therefore are inclusive of disadvantaged, vulnerable groups and people with special needs.

The Award will be given annually to innovative and creative social integration projects that have made a valuable impact and difference in the intended beneficiaries. The financial component of the Award is intended to further the awardees in their social practice.

In addition to the financial grant, the Award will provide wide exposure so that winning projects get more visibility. It will create opportunities for the winners to have better access to networks of possible partners and supporters as well as to the databases of ERSTE Foundation. The Award will also support the prize winners with a promotional video to be shown on local and international media channels. Awardees will also participate in the international conference that will be organised around the award ceremony addressing the most pressing social issues in the region.

Projects have to demonstrate outcomes, results, and sustainability. The Award is open to the public sector, civil society, private initiatives, and religious communities as well as to the media.


Objectives of the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration
  • To foster the creation and operation of socially-oriented projects especially in countries in which there have hardly been any initiatives of individuals for social responsibility in the past few decades
  • To promote small and medium-sized organisations which support innovative projects for social integration
  • To raise greater awareness of critical social issues that will encourage involvement of the broader social spectrum
  • To encourage cooperation across geographical and cultural borders by building up a network of social innovators and innovative projects in the CSEE region
  • To honour innovative projects that address social problems in an effective manner
  • To promote the exchange of data, information and knowledge


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An assessment process will be undertaken to examine the level of impact of the Award.