The CEB Award for Social Cohesion is open for applications

For our Pledgers following the EIT Deep Tech Talent Initiative we would like to draw your attention to the CEB Award for Social Cohesion, which is open for applications.

Launched in 2020 by the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), this annual competition acknowledges and rewards remarkable contributions to social cohesion. And the Award is presented to a project under implementation, which addresses pressing social issues and makes a significant contribution to social cohesion in an innovative and effective way.

The Award is open to individuals, non-governmental organisations, social enterprises and community groups that have developed and implemented projects with a strong social impact. The project should be in the early stages of implementation at a minimum.

Projects fostering inclusion of vulnerable groups are particularly encouraged to apply. And the overarching theme of ‘social cohesion’ will be assessed on:

• Impact
• Sustainability
• Innovation/Replicability

Project Eligibility

• Individuals who are at least 18 years old or organisations from CEB member countries2 are eligible for nomination. The beneficiaries and impact of the initiative or project must also be in a CEB member country.
• All initiatives or projects which have received / are currently receiving funding in the form of a loan or grant from the CEB are not eligible to be nominated for the Award.
• Preference may be given to individuals, micro-enterprises and organisations with no more than 50 employees.

Nominating a project

• Up to three nominations may be submitted by any one individual or organisation in any given year.
• Nominations must provide details of the nominee’s actions that contribute to social cohesion and the reasons that the nominee’s actions are considered outstanding. Supporting documents demonstrating the above may be required.
• Nominations must be submitted in one of the two official languages of the Council of Europe Development Bank: English or French.

The prize

In 2024, in a show of support to social entrepreneurs and social economy organisations in the CEB’s member countries, the Bank’s shareholders increased the prize amount from €25,000 to €45,000. Additionally, a further two shortlisted projects will each receive €5,000.