Voices of Courage Awards 2011: Urban Refugees

Accepting Nominations for Honorees
Looking for Refugee Leaders

Deadline: November 30, 2010

Each year, the Women’s Refugee Commission honors individual refugee, 
internally displaced and asylum-seeking women and young people who are 
working on behalf of their peers. We are now seeking candidates to be 
honored at our Voices of Courage Awards luncheon on May 3, 2011.

In 2011, we will honor refugee, internally displaced or asylum-seeking 
women or youth who are developing or leading programs that benefit 
displaced or asylum-seeking people living in urban areas. In urban 
settings, displacement places extra stress on urban services and 
resources, with displaced populations and existing urban dwellers 
sharing densely populated and poorly serviced environments. Urban 
refugees are constrained by their limited assets, support networks and 
lack of appropriate job skills, in addition to legal, cultural and 
linguistic barriers to establishing sustainable livelihoods. Too often, 
women and girls have little alternative other than to engage in harmful 
strategies to earn money to support their families, such as survival 
sex, or to join the informal economy, where they face extortion, 
exploitation and abuse. Young people are often not in school and cannot 
find work, leading to rising crime rates and insecurity.

With more than 50 percent of the world’s displaced people now living in 
cities, and with limited humanitarian assistance directed to urban 
refugees, the Women’s Refugee Commission wishes to recognize outstanding 
individuals supporting this often neglected population. Some examples of 
projects honorees might be undertaking:

  * Developing a reproductive health response that helps reduce the 
incidence of maternal mortality
  * Pioneering an alternative to detention to improve asylum practice
  * Finding a way to promote refugee-owned businesses so that refugees 
can safely earn a living
  * Innovating refugee savings groups to increase access to emergency 
cash and money to start a business
  * Adapting vocational training programs for displaced young people 
with disabilities
  * Your nominee’s project here!

Two refugee, internally displaced or asylum-seeking women or young 
people (up to age 30) will be selected to receive the Voices of Courage 
Award. The 2011 Voices of Courage honorees’ organizations will each 
receive a $5,000 grant from the Women’s Refugee Commission to further 
their critical work to benefit displaced people in their communities. We 
will feature descriptions of the honorees’ programs in our luncheon journal.

Candidate criteria:

  * Candidates may live in the United States or overseas.
  * Candidates should be current or former refugees, internally 
displaced women or young people or asylum-seekers who have developed or 
implemented successful programs that serve people displaced by conflict 
or seeking asylum in urban areas.
  * Candidates should be passionate advocates for improving the lives 
and protecting the rights of refugee and internally displaced women, 
children and young people.
  * Candidates must be able to travel to New York for a week in May (the 
luncheon is Tuesday, May 3, 2011) to accept their award (all travel and 
housing expenses will be paid).
  * Candidates must be willing to participate in media interviews.
  * The ability to speak English is preferred. 


To nominate a candidate for a Voices of Courage award, please send: 1) a 
letter of nomination that details the program and tells the story of the 
nominee; 2) the curriculum vitae, résumé or biography of the nominee; 
and 3) the names and email/phone/fax of three references. If you email 
your nomination, please include all the information in a single 
attachment or include it in the body of the email. Include the name of 
the nominee in the subject of the email. Please do not send any 
additional materials (photos, etc.) as they will not be considered.

Please email your nomination by November 30, 2010 to 
[log in to unmask] You may also fax the nomination to 
+1.212.551.3180 or mail to: Women’s Refugee Commission, Attn: Voices of 
Courage Nominees, 122 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10168-1289, USA.

PLEASE NOTE: We can only consider nominations that are written in English.

Thank you for your help. For more information on the luncheon, contact 
us at the above address.

Please Share and/or Post

Please send all replies to: [log in to unmask]

Elizabeth Beresford | Communications Officer
Women's Refugee Commission
[log in to unmask] 212.551.3088 | skype. lizbethberesford
womensrefugeecommission.org

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