The New UK Prize-Winning Project: ‘Starting Well’

The Happy Baby Community is honoured and delighted to have been awarded the Ockenden Prize. We share your passion and commitment to helping displaced people settle, feel safe, and thrive after difficult journeys. This recognition reinforces our dedication to creating nurturing environments where families can rebuild their lives with dignity and hope. We are grateful for this acknowledgment of our work and will continue striving to make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve.
Lucy Bracken Co-founder
What the Judges said

‘Starting Well’ impressed the judges for its sensitive and holistic approach to early childhood and parenting, and more particularly for its gentle support of pregnant refugees and new mothers more often than not living far away from extended family support. The judges said: “Happy Baby Community is professional, friendly and experienced with a passionate commitment to mutual respect and care. It never turns anyone away and has an impressive involvement of refugees, most of whom were beneficiaries themselves.” HBC, they observed, “has developed strong links with local hospitals, hospital staff and volunteers, a great depth of engagement and sympathetic understanding of the women and families in their care, with an inspiring emphasis on lasting friendship and compassion.”

What the mothers say

Happy Baby Community has played a significant role in my journey, especially during some of my toughest times. When I was going through the challenges of raising a child alone and dealing with difficult circumstances, the support from the Happy Baby online community was a lifeline. The activities they offered and the people who checked in on me made a huge difference during the lockdown period, providing a sense of comfort and connection when everything felt uncertain.

Volunteering with Happy Baby was also a turning point for me. It gave me the opportunity to step outside of my usual routine. Even though I was volunteering, I found that I was gaining so much more in return. The positive energy and encouragement from the community inspired me and made me feel like I was contributing to something meaningful.

When I faced the devastating loss of my brother, the support I received from Happy Baby was invaluable. Even though I withdrew from volunteering during that time, the community continued to check on me, offering emotional support. This made me realise how important it was to have people who genuinely cared, and it gave me a sense of belonging. Eventually, I returned to volunteering in different roles, and over the past three years, I’ve been able to grow personally and professionally, all while being supported by the amazing people at Happy Baby.

Now, nearly a year since I started working for Happy Baby, I feel safe, valued, and supported. This journey has empowered me, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a community that has given me so much. In return, I’ve done my best to give back to Happy Baby. Whether through volunteering, offering support, or helping create a positive environment, I hope I’ve been able to help others the way this community has helped me. It’s a place that feels like home, and I’m proud to be part of it.

The other 2025 winners and finalists

Ockenden International’s five cash prizes recognise and reward innovative projects that deliver evidential self-reliance to refugees and/or displaced people, the cornerstone of Ockenden International since its inception as the Ockenden Venture in 1951. The five cash awards are open to projects or programmes focused on Internally Displaced People (IDPs)/refugee self-reliance anywhere in the world. The nine 2025 global prize contenders (with the other four winners italicised) were:

  • Alsama Project, UK, won 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, which 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 other two organizations (in alphabetical order) and their projects, short listed for new UK Prize, were:

  • 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.