Monday 4 August 2008

Future Worlds Center wins top honours at 2008 Civil Society Awards Ceremony

Local Civil Society Organisation (CSO) Future Worlds Center received the award for the best CSO in the Social Inclusion category at the first annual Civil Society Awards Ceremony held at Chateau Status Restaurant Saturday 7 June 2008.

Future Worlds Center is one of the most active and well respected CSOs in Cyprus. It is a non-profit, non-governmental independent organisation active in programs towards civic education, among others involving the applications of technology towards social transformation and bridging the literacy, economic and digital divides. One main focus of the organisation is the promotion of cultural diversity and global citizenship.

One the outstanding reasons Future Worlds Center was considered for this award was because of its service for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture. The Unit for Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture is a project funded by the European Refugee Fund and the Republic of Cyprus, through the Asylum Service - Ministry of the Interior. The project has been initiated in 2006 and has since been funded consecutively. The unit supports and promotes the empowerment and rehabilitation of torture victims with a focus on refugees and asylum seekers. URVT’s mission is to assist victims of torture by providing multidisciplinary treatment and rehabilitation services and also to raise public awareness of issues concerning torture and rehabilitation.

Future Worlds Center also has other aims which are to educate and promote diversity among Europeans, build a multi-ethnic and multi-national Cyprus, promote awareness and increase the sensitivity of Cypriot Society on how a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Cyprus serves European values and promotes regional and international peace, identify ways to engage youth in learn intercultural dialogue, foster cooperation between youth NGOs world-wide, foster a peace culture amongst youth in Mediterranean Basin and the Middle East, and empower young people from less favoured areas to improve their intercultural skills.

Future Worlds Center has a long history of experience in activities related to social inclusion both on local and international levels through three operating units: Development Education, Humanitarian Affairs and New Media in Learning Laboratory. Current projects focus on promoting cultural diversity and intercultural understanding among young citizens. Future Worlds Center manages projects and facilitates workshops with teachers, parents and students throughout Europe to develop a joint vision on how to build integrative, multi-communal societies, and to design and implement action plans towards these. Through one of its Development Education project, Future Worlds Center collaborates with schools and the Ministry of Education to add a global dimension to the current lesson plans and to provide access to relevant material for teachers across Europe. Furthermore, projects focus on the challenges that youth with fewer opportunities face in the context of active citizenship and youth participation on European level and on using music as a tool to promote diversity and intercultural communication. It mobilizes young volunteers to actively promote the Millennium Development Goals within the Cypriot society.

Future Worlds Center is a member of the Insafe and the Inhope Network (www.saferinternet.org, www.inhope.org) and of the Cypriot National Network of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. Together with four NGOs in Cyprus Future Worlds Center has taken the initiative of establishing an island-wide NGDO-platform in Cyprus, linked to the European NGO-conferedation CONCORD (www.cyprusngdos.org). Future Worlds Center is also a founding member of the ‘Multicultural Cyprus for Children and Youth’ Network (www.multiculturalcyprus.org).

At the ceremony awards were given to Civil Society Organisations for their contribution to Cypriot society. The winners of the 2008 Civil Society Awards Ceremony are:

Social Inclusion
Future Worlds Center and Turkish Cypriot Special Education Foundation (ÖZEV)

Education and Culture
HASDER Folk Arts Association and KENTHEA Information and Rehabilitation Centre for Drug addiction

Environment
Biologist Association ‘Bio Der’ and Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association-CYMEPA

Gender
Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in Family and Mediterranean Sports Association

Health
The Cyprus Association for Cancer Patients and Friends and Help Those With Cancer Association

Youth
Agros Youth Club and AKOVA Women’s Association

Island-Wide Cooperation
Cyprus Dyslexia association and Union of Chambers of Cyprus Turkish Engineers and Architects

Island-Wide Cooperation
Association for Historical Dialogue and Research and Peace Players International Cyprus

For more information please click here

No comments: