14/02/2025
2025 OCKENDEN PRIZE FINALISTS
Twelve projects successfully advancing the self-reliance of more than 50,000 refugees, internally displaced people and/or asylum seekers in 10 countries have been shortlisted for the 2025 Ockenden International Prizes.
Five cash prizes, worth £25,000 each, include a new UK Prize for a project operational in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. The five prizes will be announced in London at the end of March, adding a further £125,000 to the total of more than £1.2 million awarded since the prizes were inaugurated in 2013.
Nine projects from nine countries are competing for four of the annual prizes, while three projects – operational in London (and Crawley), Nottinghamshire and UK-wide online – have been shortlisted for the new UK Prize. Each project is working to help refugees and/or displaced people by replacing their need for – and dependence on – aid with effective projects the beneficiaries often run or co-manage themselves.
The 2025 prizes attracted a record 194 entries from 45 countries and territories.
The nine organizations (in alphabetical order) and their projects, short listed for this year’s global awards, are:
Alsama Project, Lebanon, for its ‘Secondary Education Centres’ programs in the Shatila and Bourj el-Barajneh Refugee Camps, Beirut, which support Syrian and Palestinian children refugees living in Lebanon.
Asylum Access Malaysia, provides legal aid in a project titled ‘Employment Dispute Program for Refugees in Malaysia (EDP)’ – Community legal empowerment and case management run by both local and refugee EDP team members.
Avocats Sans Frontièrs France nominated by I Have Rights e.V., Germany, for the ‘Samos Legal Centre’ project, which provides independent and much-needed free legal support to refugees in their quests to obtain the guaranteed right to seek asylum on one of the world’s refugee frontlines, Samos Island, Greece.
Eurocoop Servizi, Italy, ‘Jungi Mundu’ – ‘Join the World’ (in the local Italian dialect), a project based on social entrepreneurship in arts, crafts, gastronomy and hospitality that’s been the salvation of Camini, once an abandoned Calabrian village, as well as its population of refugees.
KASAPI, Greece, which means ‘Unity of Filipino Migrants in Greece' has been nominated by the Melissa Network, for its intercultural centre and associated programs for migrant and refugee children called ‘Munting Nayon’ (Little Village) run by the Filipino community focused on integration of children in the Greek society.
Let’s Be Transformed (MAGUFINA), Malawi, nominated by AREDO (Ability of Refugee Disability Organization) Malawi, for the project ‘Transforming Lives Through Technology: Mobile Phone Repair Training and Enterprise Development Program for Refugees with Disabilities’.
Nest Global, Tijuana, Mexico. Chosen as a finalist for its program, ‘Nest Tijuana: Empowering Asylum-Seeking Families through Early Childhood Education and Holistic Support’, which provides free pre-school education and comprehensive support to displaced children and their families sheltering at one of Tijuana’s largest migrant shelters.
Terre des Hommes Foundation Moldova’s project ‘Addressing basic needs and improving resilience of children, youth, and mothers affected by the Ukrainian refugee crisis living in Moldova’, whose primary goal is to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience among children, youth, and mothers affected by the Ukrainian refugee crisis in Moldova, including the most vulnerable members of host communities, by providing individualized support and broader assistance in collaboration with local actors.
TUMO Center for Creative Technologies’ (Armenia) for its comprehensive educational empowerment, mentorship and post-war rehabilitation project called ‘TUMO for Artsakh Teens (T4AT)’, for the children of displaced families from Nagorno Karabakh following the forced displacement of its Armenian population in September 2023.
The three organizations (in alphabetical order) and their projects, short listed for this year’s new UK Prize, are:
Happy Baby Community (HBC), Greater London (and Crawley), for its ‘Starting Well’ project for pregnant women and mothers with children under three-years of age who have fled war, violence and trafficking to seek asylum in the UK.
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee Forum UK’s ‘Voices of Refuge’ project, an ethical interpreting company. It trains refugees and asylum seekers all over the world, who have English language knowledge, in basic interpreting skills. It provides well paid, supported and trained interpreters to service providers for refugees and other vulnerable migrants in the East Midlands and beyond. It provides employment opportunities within those communities and helps people into work. Voices in Refuge is a CIC wholly owned by Nottingham Refugee Forum, which provides a wide range of services to refugees and asylum seekers, and any profits made go straight from its interpreting business, go straight back into those services.
Refugee Education UK, in partnership with Student Action for Refugees, a country-wide online project entitled ‘The Displaced Students' Opportunities Portal’, a single portal for university scholarships and placements which helps refugees rebuild their lives through higher education by providing easy access to accurate information, guidance and opportunities for progression to and pathways through higher education.
