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The Most Reverend & Right Honourable Dr. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, will present the 2015 Ockenden International Prizes for refugee projects.
The winning prize of $100,000 is for the project judged to be most successful at establishing and maintaining refugee self-reliance projects. The two runners-up each receive $25,000.
The announcement of the winner and prize presentations by the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, will be the high point of a prestigious ceremony to be held at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, on Tuesday, February 24 next year.
Refugees and displaced persons are a fast growing international challenge and a concern close to the Archbishop’s heart.
The three finalists competing for the 2015 Ockenden International Prize are:
• ‘Everyone Supports Returnees’ in Bujumburra and Bururi Provinces, Burundi. Nominee: The Community Association for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (ACDPH) / Applicant: Disability and Development Partners, London, UK (DPP) www.ddpuk.org
• ‘Preparedness for Return’, Thailand and Myanmar, The Border Consortium, Bangkok, Thailand www.theborderconsortium.org
• ‘Revitalising Livelihood Opportunities along Two Economic Arteries in Sri Lanka’s Former War Zone’, ZOA – Relief Hope Recovery, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands www.zoa-international.com
They were short-listed from 67 entries from 33 countries.
The winner will be determined after live presentations are made to a panel of five expert judges at Lady Margaret Hall during the afternoon before the annual ceremony.
Each finalist will fly a team to the UK for the presentations where the jury, to be chaired by broadcaster, Michael Buerk, will decide the winner of the $100,000 to be announced and presented immediately after by Archbishop Sentamu.
The projects:
Everyone Supports Returnees (Burundi) project is protecting and improving universal human rights and liberty of refugees and returnees forcibly returned to Burundi from Tanzania.
Preparedness for Return (Thailand) is preparing Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and refugees living in border camps for their potential return to Myanmar by providing self-reliance skills, enabling them to take responsibility for their own lives and livelihoods.
Revitalising Livelihood Opportunities (Sri Lanka) is an integrated socio-economic project assisting close to 8,000 vulnerable and excluded IDP families in Sri Lanka’s former war zones in their journey towards self-reliance.
The finalists’ judging panel will be looking in particular for evidence of increased self-reliance in the communities supported – the central ethos of the Prize, which recognises and rewards work to improve the lives of refugees and displaced people all over the world.
The 2014 winner was the Norwegian Refugee Council for a land rights project in Zimbabwe, which benefited 5,000 people, while the inaugural Prize, awarded in 2013, went to India’s Centre for Development (CfD) partnered by UK charity Childreach International for their Piplaj Advocacy Project to empower a deeply impoverished community in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
More information about the Prize, previous winners and their projects as well as Ockenden International and its history can be found at www.ockendenprizes.org and www.facebook.com/OckendenPrizes
Note for editors
Ockenden International’s roots lie in the work of three British schoolteachers, led by Joyce Pearce. Starting out in 1951, their humble aim was to receive in Britain young East Europeans from homeless persons’ camps in post-war Germany and to provide for their maintenance, education and welfare. As Ockenden Venture, this work later extended to projects in India, North Africa and Southeast Asia. The Venture’s expertise and skills in helping people help themselves was so well recognised by 1979 that the British government asked Ockenden to be one of the three charities tasked with helping Vietnamese ‘boat people’ resettle in the United Kingdom.
After the death in 1985 of Joyce Pearce, the driving visionary of the organisation, the charity took stock of its work and by 1999, as Ockenden International, had concentrated nearly all its work overseas. In 2007 the trustees decided that continuing to be an operational charity was no longer viable and that it could work more effectively by becoming a prize-giver and promoting awareness of the challenges facing refugees and displaced people.
Contact for media queries: Corrie Parsonson, Administrator, Ockenden Prizes
enquiries@ockendenprizes.org | + 44 (0) 20 8416 0116
http://www.ockendenprizes.org | https://www.facebook.com/OckendenPrizes
