The EESC reveals the winners of its Civil Solidarity Prize

COUNTRY

WINNER

AUSTRIA

#EUROPAgegenCovid19, an initiative presented by the non-profit company Kommunikationswerkstatt 27, fighting disinformation, fake news and misinformation on the pandemic and motivating citizens to stand up against emotional and cognitive manipulation

BELGIUM

OKRA, trefpunt 55+, an association that responded to the pandemic with The resilience of OKRA, a creative initiative aimed at keeping older people active and socially connected

BULGARIA

Karin dom, a foundation which offered online training activities to support families of children with special needs

CROATIA

Hrvatska mreža za beskućnike, a Croatian network which supported homeless people as the country moved into lockdown and was further hit by an earthquake

CYPRUS

Volunteers for the support of vulnerable groups during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, for their initiatives which included the delivery of food and medicines to people isolating because of their age or health issues. The initiatives were coordinated by Erika Theofanidi

CZECHIA

Nevypusť Duši – an organisation created by students and graduates of medicine, psychology and social work whose webinars helped high school students cope with mental health problems and build psychological resilience during the pandemic.

FRANCE

Bouge ton Coq, a platform which strives to keep rural France alive, for its initiative C’est ma tournée! (It's my round!), which supported rural shops and businesses struggling to meet costs during the pandemic

GERMANY

Krisenchat, a 24/7 counselling service which provided free practical support and comfort via Whatsapp or SMS to young people and children

GREECE

Steps, a non-profit organisation that transformed its existing One-Stop project into Many Stops, providing hot meals, bottled water and personal hygiene products to street-connected people and those in precarious housing;

HUNGARY

Magyar Helsinki Bizottság, or the Hungarian Helsinki Committee which provided free legal assistance in human-rights-related cases linked to the crisis

IRELAND

Alison - Free Online Courses & Online Learning platform, for its project Coronavirus: What You Need to Know, a free COVID-19 facts course that has been translated into over 70 languages and has reached over 350 000 people worldwide

 ITALY

Casetta Rossa, a non-profit association which combines food delivery to vulnerable people with a radio station broadcasting information and personal stories to boost morale

LITHUANIA

Karolina Barišauskienė , a communications expert for her project Priešakinėse linijose (At the Front Lines), a digital campaign of stories and insights from medical professionals on the coronavirus front line

MALTA

Malta Chamber of SMEs for its project With You All the Way, which provided online advice and peer support to help thousands of SMEs to adapt to the pandemic

POLAND

Krystyna Paszko a high-school student who created Chamomiles and Pansies, an online shop offering a lifeline to victims of domestic violence during lockdown

PORTUGAL

Vizinhos à Janela, a neighbourhood initiative presented by Íñigo Hurtado which brought some relief through daily balcony concerts and food delivery to people in need

ROMANIA

Asociatia Prematurilor, the Romanian association of premature babies, for its project Support for Medical Staff and Newborns in Maternity – Protective Equipment and Apparatus Against COVID-19 in maternity wards

SLOVENIA

Društvo psihologov Slovenije, an association of Slovenian psychologists, for their project Psychosocial Support to General Public and Professional Support to Psychologists and Other Healthcare Professionals During COVID-19 Outbreak in Slovenia

SLOVAKIA

Človek v ohrození, a non-profit NGO, for its initiative Their Health is Also Our Health, which supported hard-hit Roma communities and helped them through the pandemic

SPAIN

Asociación de Familias y Mujeres del Medio Rural (AFAMMER), an association of families and women in rural areas for its project AFAMMER Great Rural Solidarity Network, which brought together hundreds of women in rural Spain who gave their time and sewing skills to tackle a shortage of protective masks and the growing isolation of elderly people during the pandemic;

SWEDEN

Community and arts space and non-for-profit company  Blivande for its project Crisis Response – an open-source initiative to create protective healthcare equipment on a large scale

UNITED KINGDOM

Cherwell Collective, CIC, for their project Live, Learn, Eat, Grow, which provided food and other essentials to people in need and trained residents to grow their own food

CROSS-BORDER / EUROPEAN

Emergency, an Italy-based NGO, for the assistance it provided in Europe and worldwide to contain the pandemic, in particular through its Replicable Model of Safety and Protection Measures, a scalable model to design and manage hospitals during the pandemic