The four winners of the 2022 Ockenden International Prizes for refugee and/or displaced people projects and programmes were INARA (International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance), USA, Irida Women’s Center, Greece, Justice Centre Hong Kong, China, and UAWC (Union of Agricultural Work Committees), in the occupied Territories of the West Bank.

2021 – the four winners of the ninth annual Prizes were Israel’s ARTEAM, Sweden’s Dream Orchestra Ideell Förening, Greece’s Velos Youth and The Ara Trust of India.

2020 – the four winners of the eighth edition of Ockenden International’s £25,000 prizes for outstanding refugee and/or displaced people projects were Casa Alianza, Honduras, FORGE for humanity, Greece, the Mae Tao Clinic, Thailand and Small Projects Istanbul, Turkey.

2019 – the four £25,000 prize winners were  COBURWAS International Youth Organization to Transform Africa (CIYOTA), Uganda, Geutanyoë Foundation, Malaysia, the Somaliland Youth Development and Voluntary Organization (SOYDAVO) from the Autonomous Region of Somalia and Unite Lebanon Youth Project (ULYP), Lebanon.

The two runners-up were the ‘Consolidation of Legal Aid Services to Forced Migrants’ project devised by the School of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda and ‘IDPs Support Project in Rasuwa’, a post-earthquake resettlement project by Parivartan Patra, Nepal, which was nominated by Cordaid, The Netherlands.

2016 – Young African Refugees for Integral Development‘s (YARID) ‘Women Empowerment Project’in the Katwe, Nkere Zone, Makindye Division of the Ugandan capital, Kampala, a project devised and maintained by its beneficiaries.

The two other finalists were: Mercy Corps Europe‘s ‘Fostering self-reliance for displaced Syrians in South Lebanon’ project and Cord UK‘s ‘Sustainable self-led education for Sudanese (Darfuri) Refugees (Chad)’, a refugee-led education project that has enabled displaced families to create their own Student Parent Associations and Primary Education Committees.

2015 – The Community Association for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (ACPDH) and Disability and Development Partners (DDP) UK, for the DDP-nominated project: ‘Twunganire Abahungutse (TA) – Everyone Supports Returnees’ operating in two provinces of Burundi.

The other two finalists were ‘Revitalising Livelihood Opportunities along Two Economic Arteries in Sri Lanka’s Former War Zone’ from ZOA – Relief Hope Recovery, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands and ‘Preparedness for Return’, in Thailand and Myanmar, an initiative of The Border Consortium Bangkok, Thailand.

2014 – The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Zimbabwe, for its Manicaland and Masvingo Provinces project that gained land rights for some 10,000 internally displaced people (IDPs).

The other two finalists in 2014 were The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), India: for its ‘Protection and Livelihood Assistance to Sri Lankan refugees’ project, working across 54 camps in 18 districts of Tamil Nadu, India, and ActionAid India for the project, ‘Humanitarian support for internally displaced tribal communities in Khammam District’, Andhra Pradesh, India.

2013 – India’s Centre for Development (CfD) partnered with UK charity Childreach International for their Piplaj Advocacy Project to empower a deeply impoverished community in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, a successful campaign for better living conditions, education and healthcare.

The other two finalists in our inaugural prize year were HelpAge International for its project to support older people, who have suffered years of upheaval, violence and loss, in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, to identify their needs and take action to improve their lives; and Womankind Worldwide partnered with The Women’s Legal Aid Centre ‘For Women We Stand’ project, the first of its kind in western Tanzania, to promote and protect the rights of refugee women and girls.