Twenty innovative projects from CEE will receive €295,000 at the Award Ceremony in Bucharest on 25 June
26. May, 2009
ERSTE Foundation announced on May 25 the names of the 20 winners of the second round of the ERSTE Foundation Awards for Social Integration. The winners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia were selected from 71 projects shortlisted from a total of 1,300 applications. The ten winning projects and ten honourable mention awards will be presented at the award ceremony in Bucharest on 25 June.
The total prize money of €295,000 will be split among the winners, with the precise ranking to be announced during the award ceremony. Each organisation that submitted a winning project can expect to receive at least €10,000:
First prize: €40,000 – Second prize: €30,000 – Third prize: €20,000 - 4th to 10th place: €15,000 each – Honourable mention awards for ten other projects (11th to 20th place): €10.000 each
The winning projects are as follows (in alphabetical order):
- Communication Campain in Support of Solution of the Erased Problem (Studio POPER, Slovenia)
- Developing and improving the Roma Health Mediation System in Romania (Romani CRISS – Roma Centre for Social Integration and Studies, Romania)
- Developing inclusive and sustainable educational programmes for Roma children (Ruhama Foundation, Romania)
- Education for Deafblind and Multi Sensory impaired children (Sense International Foundation, Romania)
- Establishing a home-care network in Harghita County (Roman-Catholic Archdiocese CARITAS Alba Iulia, Romania)
- Improvement of Roma education in South Serbia (Citizens’ initiative Helping Children, Serbia)
- Independent and integrated Lives for People with Developmental Disabilities (Creative and Educational Centre for the Developmentally Disabled, Serbia)
- Integrated Health Service for Rural Areas (The Foundation for Community Assistance, Romania)
- In/visible City (DAH Theatre Research Centre, Serbia)
- Karantena Cultural and Social Centre (Lazareti Art Workshop, Croatia)
- Livelihood diversification for Bereaved Women in western Kosovo (Transrural Trust Kosova, Kosovo)
- MIBA Seosko Bankarstvo – MIBA Village Banking (MIBA Microcredit Foundation, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Prevention campaign from Trafficking in Children (Women’s Lobby and Action Against Violence and Trafficking of Women, Macedonia)
- Project Human Being (Project Človek Association, Slovenia)
- Restart Media Centre (Restart, Croatia)
- Seeing Eye Dog (Association for Youth with Disability, Montenegro)
- Silence is not Gold (Open Media Group/CESI, Croatia)
- Foundation (St. Francisc Foundation, Romania)
- With Wind through Silence (Adriatic Skippers Association, Croatia)
- Wizards of O.Z. – Theatre in Prison (NGO ApsArt Centre for Theatrical Research, Serbia)
The 17-strong jury assessed more than 1,000 applications from eight countries
The only award of its kind in the region, the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration gives recognition to and promotes organisations and projects that aim to create a stable and just society including disadvantaged and marginalised groups. This year’s call received more than 1,300 applications from eight countries in the region. Non-profit organisations, public administrative bodies, civil-society and private initiatives, religious communities and media organisations were eligible to apply. The 20 outstanding projects by organisations from Central and South Eastern Europe were selected by an international jury of 17 experts. The projects work towards social change and creating a society with equal chances and opportunities for all.
Award ceremony in Bucharest and conference on the future of social change
The Romanian capital Bucharest was selected to host this year’s award ceremony. The winners of the 2009 ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration will receive their prizes at La Motoare, the rooftop terrace bar of the city’s National Theatre, on 25 June. The award ceremony provides the organisations with a platform that allows them to gain increased recognition of their often difficult work and with a forum for establishing contacts and networking with potential partners and sponsors. The winners of the first ten prizes will receive special support in the form of a film about their projects. These films will be made available to the local and international media and may also be used for other purposes by the organisations. To mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain, the event will be accompanied by a three-day conference on “The Future of Social Change. 1989 – 2009: Visions and Perspectives after 20 Years of Transition”.
€295,000 for courageous initiatives worthy of recognition
Since its inception in early 2007, the ERSTE Foundation Award for Social Integration has grown considerably in scope. The prize money has almost quadrupled, increasing from €85,000 in 2008 to €295,000 this year, and the list of participating countries has also expanded. ERSTE Foundation seeks to contribute to shaping a society in Europe that enables equal participation of all people, where everyone is ready to take on responsibilities and work towards the common good
Contact
ERSTE Foundation, Communications
Maribel Königer, T +43 50100 15453, e-mail: maribel.koeniger@erstestiftung.org
Jovana Trifunović, T +43 50100 15844, e-mail: jovana.trifunovic@erstestiftung.org
ERSTE Foundation
ERSTE Foundation is active in the Central and South Eastern European region. Together with its partners, it creates a hive of activity for common good. Founded in 2003 it began its work two years later by developing its three programmes Social Affairs, Culture and Europe. ERSTE Foundation is the legal successor of the 190-year-old “Erste oesterreichische Spar-Casse”, the first Austrian savings bank. Today it owns a 31% stake in the capital of Erste Group. Its two commitments are based on these historical roots: as the mayor shareholder ERSTE Foundation safeguards the future of Erste Group as an independent company and reinvests its dividend into activities that promote the common good. This makes ERSTE Foundation a unique institution of this kind and size in Central and South Eastern Europe.
For more information visit: www.erstestiftung.org