The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group have joined forces to strengthen their commitment to encourage cultural diversity and coexistence among communities. The BMW Group Award for Intercultural Innovation, in support of the Alliance of Civilizations, under the auspices of the United Nations (otherwise known as the Intercultural Innovation Award) searches for innovative and sustainable projects around the world that are encouraging dialogue and cooperation among people from different cultural backgrounds using novel and creative methods.
Not-for-profit organizations that are active in the fields of migration and integration; intercultural awareness; education for intercultural citizenship; the role of specific groups (faith-based; women; youth; media) in promoting intercultural understanding, with a track records in managing intercultural projects and willingness to expand their range of action, are eligible to apply.
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The Intercultural Innovation Award will be bestowed upon ten organizations. Winners will become members of the “World Intercultural Facility for Innovation” (WIFI), and the top five will draw from one-year support and consulting from the UNAOC and the BMW Group. The WIFI, a program initiated by the UNAOC in cooperation with the BMW Group, will help winners to become more efficient and to expand, as well as enable their transfer to other contexts or settings where they might be relevant. The specific support received will depend on the individual needs of the projects. A detailed needs assessment will be conducted in conjunction with each of the winners. The UNAOC and the BMW Group and a Mentoring Group will then mobilize resources to help those projects achieve their goals. After one year, a comprehensive evaluation will be performed in order to assess the impact of the Award on the winners.
In 2012, we doubled the total prize pool to USD 100,000 with a first prize of USD 50,000 .
Applying organizations need to fulfill each and every one of the following criteria to be deemed eligible:
Projects implemented by non-for-profit organizations including non-governmental organizations, charitable organizations,research and educational institutions, labor unions, indigenous groups, faith-based organizations, professional associations, foundations and local or municipal branches of government.
Projects must implement new approaches and methods to intercultural understanding.
Willingness to expand the range of action of the project with the UNAOC, the BMW Group and other partners.
Projects that have been submitted to previous editions of the Intercultural Innovation Award are eligible to apply.
Projects cannot have been winners in previous editions of the UNAOC Marketplace of Ideas or BMW Group Awards. Organizations that won in past editions can submit different projects, however.
Organizations must have been operational for a minimum of 2 year with funding base and project implementation. Projects submitted within this call should have been launched already for 12 months minimum.
Shortlisted projects will be evaluated against a comprehensive set of criteria. These criteria include three main categories:THE PROJECT
Relevance – is appropriate to the local context and targeted audiences in which they are implemented.
Quality – undertakes an in depth analysis of problems/risks and set a consistent intervention strategy.
Clarity – sets clear objectives and draws a logical connection between activities, outputs and outcomes.
Innovation – pushes beyond boundaries and excels in the use of original and novel methods (social media, arts, pedagogical approach, innovative training, etc.)
Measurability – impact of the intervention is assessable (i.e. number of beneficiaries, polls on attitude change, external assessments, etc.)
Sustainability – demonstrates ability to be sustainable in the mid-long term.
Replicability – has the capacity to be replicated and scaled up in different settings. This is a key evaluation criterion.
THE APPLICANT (CSO)
Organizational structure – is capable of achieving the goals set in the project.
Intercultural commitment – has proven interest and commitment in intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation (e.g. past reports, reference letters, etc.).
Work plan and budget – has set a realistic budget to implement the project.
Transparency – has made genuine and demonstrable efforts to adopt a policy of transparency.
Equality – has adopted equality and diversity policies as reflected in staff members, membership and activities.
THE APPLICATION
Clarity – shows an effective communication of ideas and provides relevant examples.
Conciseness – provides clear and concise responses to questions.
Persuasiveness – includes insightful arguments and engaging narrative.
