Each organization has been awarded GBP25,000 in recognition of their outstanding projects – innovative work successfully advancing the self-reliance of more than 34,500 refugees, forced migrants, displaced people and asylum-seekers – the defining principle of Ockenden International since its inception in 1951.
The 2026 Prizes attracted 167 entries from 43 countries and territories with the five winning initiatives operational respectively in Greece, Chad, Ukraine, Malawi and the United Kingdom.
The 2026 open prize winners (in alphabetical order) and their winning projects are:
Equal Legal Aid, Greece, for its project ‘Access to asylum and strategic legal aid for displaced people in northern Greece’, which the judges agreed was a “solid application providing legal clinics at five locations as well as telephone hotlines. It’s providing an essential service, doing important work for refugees including support for victims of gender violence.” Equal Legal Aid they said has “proven effective” in giving refugees a starting point in dealing with the bureaucratic and social complexities of their new lives in an area with no government support or legal infrastructure. The project, which includes 22 refugee volunteers, has so far helped 3,792 refugees.
iACT for its ‘Little Ripples’ project in the country of Chad, central Africa. The 2026 judging panel said it was heartening to see a project from the troubled, remote difficult-to-reach area of eastern Chad. They particularly liked the fact that the project was refugee-led within the refugee camp community – training the mothers to become teachers – while ensuring the camps were on board. They also noted the project’s “joyful approach” and impressive results, particularly in its work with very young children as well as the project’s built-in capacity for scale and empathy-based leadership, with 175 staff and volunteers having so far trained 1,975 teachers.
Save Ukraine Foundation, in the Kyiv region, northern Ukraine, operates the ‘Hope and Healing Center’, providing comprehensive psychological and social assistance to Ukrainian children rescued from Russia and from Russian-occupied territories. The judging panel said it was an “impressive application borne of horrendous circumstances offering psychological support to clearly-disturbed children who have been kidnapped and returned” to Ukraine. The judges were impressed by the provision of holistic and bespoke care “ensuring that the children are given the best chance of rehabilitation and reintegration.” The 14 members of staff have helped rehabilitate 216 children.
Tumaini Letu, is a refugee-led organisation based in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Dowa, Malawi founded in 2012. Since 2014, its flagship project, the annual Tumaini Festival has used music, dance, and the arts to promote refugee dignity, inclusion, and self-reliance. The judges singled it out for “an unapologetic celebration of refugees’ talents and contributions” as well as the fact that the festival was started by refugees.” They were also surprised that it is the only festival located in a refugee camp – and one that was once a prison. The judges said: “It plainly – and aurally – integrates community.” They noted that the event has also sparked market opportunities for the Camp’s refugees, a reliable way to develop self-reliance.” They admired its positive effect on morale of the community and the 5,400 jobs for people in the Camp the festival has generated, invoking a deep sense of pride, hope and joy by focussing its activity on the creative and practical.” The project is managed by 15 staff and 10 volunteers.
The UK Prize winner:
Hopscotch Women’s Centre, Camden, London, for its ‘Hopscotch Afghan Refugee Project (HARP)’, which aids Afghan refugees, offering language learning, community building, and confidence workshops was the standout UK project this year. “An amazing initiative,” the judges said because it “promotes a thoughtful and holistic approach to supporting Afghan families – particularly, mothers, the most vulnerable among resettled Afghans.” The project’s success in fostering vital connections with local statutory and voluntary organisations benefit the whole community, while its focus on childcare allows women attending their sessions to engage more freely with the initiatives. One thousand, six hundred and forty six people have so far been helped by the project, which is run by seven staff and six volunteers.
More than 34,000 refugees, internally displaced people and/or asylum seekers in nine countries are participants in the 11 projects that were shortlisted for the 2026 Ockenden International Prizes.
Ockenden International also acknowledges the outstanding efforts of the other four open prize finalists:
The eponymously named Daughters Rising project in Chiang Mai, Thailand empowers at-risk ethnic minority and refugee women and girls from Myanmar and Thailand through education, job training, emergency aid, and independence programs by tackling exploitation and inequality. It helps them find safety, skills, and self-sufficiency to break cycles of vulnerability and lead dignified, self-reliant lives.
Hope Foundation for Women and Children of Bangladesh’s project in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, ‘From Refugee to Health Worker: Building Self-Reliance among Rohingya Girls’ empowers displaced communities through healthcare, education, and training. Its Girls Health Aid Program equips young Rohingya women with medical and leadership skills, fostering self-reliance, employment, and improved community health while reducing dependence on aid.
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights’ ‘IT & Play (Toy) Bus – Mobile Support for Displaced Children and Youth’ project provides digital training, psychosocial support, and creative spaces, promoting healing, skills development, and independence, particularly for Yazidi and displaced youth recovering from conflict and trauma in Iraq and Syria.
Maya Vakfi (Foundation) in Adiyaman, Türkiye, conducts the project ‘Empowering Early Years: Enhancing Early Childhood Development for Refugee Children and Caregivers in Earthquake Affected Communities’ by empowering disadvantaged Syrian children and families through psychosocial support, education, and community programs following the devastating 2023 earthquakes.
Ockenden International also recognises the two other organisations and their projects, short listed for the UK Prize:
HostNation conducts its ‘Refugee Friendship Project’ in Greater London, Greater Manchester and Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead). HostNation is a volunteer-led charity connecting refugees and asylum seekers with local volunteer befrienders to ease isolation, build confidence, and foster friendships. Through shared activities and social support, it helps newcomers integrate, improve English, and feel part of the community.
The Launchpad Collective (TLC)‘s project ‘Led by Lived Experience: Unlocking Potential – Pathways to Dignity and Self-Reliance’ operates UK-wide supporting refugees to rebuild their lives through training, education, and mentoring. By improving skills, confidence, and employability, TLC supports refugees to move from exclusion to empowerment – restoring dignity and creating genuine pathways to sustainable work and independence.
The five cash prizes recognize and reward innovative work that delivers evidential self-reliance to refugees and/or IDPs and/or asylum-seekers in the UK, the cornerstone of Ockenden International since its inception in 1951. Four of the cash awards are open to projects or programs advancing IDP/refugee self-reliance anywhere in the world. To be eligible for the UK prize, the entered project must be operational and benefitting refugees or asylum-seekers living in the United Kingdom.
The chair of Ockenden International, Judith Ingham said: “Tens of thousands of refugees, forced migrants and displaced people – as well as their communities – benefit from the self-reliance and independence these innovative projects promote and extend.
“It’s exciting and heartening to see that so many entries are coming from organisations fostering staff and volunteers with the ‘lived experience’ so vital to their credibility – and success.
“These prestigious prizes provide Ockenden’s winners with the funds to further enhance their winning projects or support their work more generally, pioneering best practices and their reach in what remain amongst the most challenging and disruptive global circumstances.”
The projects entered in the 2026 prizes by this year’s finalists embrace legal aid, employment, safety, education, mobile training, earthquake and deportation recovery, a dance festival, friendship connections and skills workshops – in Iraq, Malawi, Thailand, United Kingdom, Greece, Türkiye, Syria, Bangladesh and Ukraine
The 11 short-listed projects for 2026 were judged by Ockenden International’s independent seven-member Advisory Board:
Michael Buerk (Chair), broadcaster
Dr Dawn Chatty, Emerita Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration; former Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford and Emeritus Fellow, St Cross College.
Dr Georgia Cole, Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Former Joyce Pearce Junior Research Fellow, Refugee Studies Centre/LMH, Oxford.
Mr Robert Hakiza, Agricultural Engineer. Co-Founder & Executive Director of YARID, the winner of the 2016 Ockenden International Prize and founding member of the refugee-led network, Refugee Advocator.
Dr Avila Kilmurray, works with the Social Change Initiative (SCI) on peacebuilding and migration rights programs. Avila is a Board member of the International Fund for Ireland, a Trustee of the St. Stephen’s Green Trust (Ireland) and Hon. Professor with the Mitchell Institute, Queens University Belfast.
Dame Frances Lannon, former Principal and Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall (LMH), University of Oxford.
Mr Mike Wooldridge, OBE, former BBC Foreign Correspondent.
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