2025 ici Award

“ici. here together.” has been supporting associations and organisations with grants and expert advice since 2022. The many initiatives that it supports bring together people with different cultural and linguistic experiences. They promote social integration and participation in Switzerland.

With the new ici Awards, we want to recognise initiatives that make a significant contribution to these goals:

• They strengthen encounters between people with different cultural and linguistic experiences.
• They see cultural diversity in Switzerland as a strength and a source of potential.
• They raise awareness about breaking down discriminatory attitudes and prejudices.
• They are committed to ensuring that everyone can participate equally in social, economic and cultural life, regardless of their cultural or linguistic background.
• In short: the ici Awards honour projects and organisations that are committed to cohesion and better coexistence in Switzerland.

All the 198 projects and organisations that received support from “ici. here together.” in funding cycles I and II and within the framework of Changemaker Grants are automatically included in the selection process.

The participating projects and organisations will be nominated by the “ici. here together.” jury in one of eight categories::

1. Community-led projects: the projects are initiated and implemented by the community itself; the community decides.
2. A high level of multilingualism: they facilitate access because different languages are actively used and promoted.
3. Intersectional perspectives: they address discrimination and make different perspectives visible in a targeted fashion.
4. Empowerment for refugees: they support refugees with integration and enable participation and access to education and resources.
5. Empowerment for women and girls: they practise sexual equality and strengthen the personal development and skills of women and girls.
6. Empowerment for families and children: they take the needs of multilingual families into account and promote self-determination.
7. Empowerment for the local population: they use local resources and networks to strengthen cohesion.
8. Particularly innovative, creative, artistic approaches: they overcome barriers and create new avenues for people with different cultural and linguistic experiences.  
 

The “ici. here together.” team will nominate the candidates. The jury will decide which 16 projects or organisations will receive prize money. You will be entered for the awards automatically and needn’t do anything. Interested in taking part? Write to us!

Two projects or organisations will be awarded in each of the eight categories. The winners will receive CHF 8,000. The runners-up will receive CHF 5,000. You are free to use the prize money for your association's activities.