An Italian project wins the 2017 EU Civil Society Prize

The EU Civil Society Prize, which rewards initiatives which aim at the labour marketintegration of newcomers and all the people who are distant from the labour market and require specific support.

For the 2017 edition, an evaluation panel composed of ten experts chose the winners among the 111 applications received from 25 Member States. The work of the panel was very challenging and rewarding, considering the high level and quality of the applications.

The first prize, of a value of 14.000 EUR, went to Discovering hands (Germany), a project which trains blind and visually impaired women, using their superior tactile sense to enhance early breast cancer detection.

The other prizes, of a value of 9.000 EUR each, went to:

REvive Greece, which helps refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to integrate into the receiving countries by teaching them computer programming and connecting them with young European entrepreneurs.

DUO for a JOB (Belgium), an intergenerational and intercultural mentoring programme which offers a free 6-month individual service for young migrant job seekers with people over 50 years of age who have professional experience in a similar field to theirs;

Institute of Robotics for Dependency (IRD) (Spain) with its project Laundry ID aimed at creating jobs for people with disabilities in a laundry service technologically redesigned and adapted to their needs;

Progetto Quid (Italy), an ethical fashion brand which helps vulnerable and disadvantaged groups such as asylum seekers, victims of slavery, prostitution and domestic violence to enter the labour market. This Italian initiative has been able to connect Italian creativity and innate passion for fashion into a new project that is very supportive of disadvantaged people while remaining competitive and environmental friendly. Progetto Quid received a significant boost when it started proposing its own creations to famous Italian brands, with most of them deciding to support the initiative by transforming Progetto Quid in their new "ethical partner", starting new partnerships to produce "ethical lines" with their label.

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