SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. 2014
Posted on |
“In the long term, an innovation in social services or education will be as important as an innovation in the pharmaceutical or aerospatial industry.” [1]
The application phase for the 2014 SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T (Borderless Extraordinary Samaritan Team) awards has been officially opened!
SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. was born last year with the idea of rewarding good practice of Samaritan International projects within the framework of social solidarity, welfare and social services that should improve the quality of people’s lives.
Like in 2013, depending on the projects’ local or cross-border approach, two prizes will be awarded:
SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. International will be awarded for projects that demonstrate and foster international cooperation and SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. Local will focus on projects that have a direct and local positive impact.
Annual priority
For the edition of 2014, the SAM.I. Presidium and General Secretariat have declared Innovative Social Services / Social Affairs as the priority theme.
We are used to thinking of innovation as something that happens in universities and in the laboratories of large companies.
But also welfare organisations are responding to social needs in innovative ways in their daily work. They propose new modes of action and seek to address complex problems demonstrating their innovative potential. Innovative social services meet individuals’ needs in the areas of health, education and care in wider society. Through social interaction individual needs are responded to in a non-standardized way to support individuals or groups when they need special solutions.
The ceremony
The award ceremony will take place in connection with ASBÖ’s St. Nicolas train in Austria from November 29-30.
The winners of SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T international and SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T Local will receive a prize of € 3000 each. The prize money will be donated by UNION Versicherungsdienst GmbH and ASB Germany.
The criteria for nominee projects and the mode of decision can be found in the official concept document of the awards:
Here you will find all the information on the Award 2013
[1] Open Book of Social Innovation, Murray, Calulier-Grice and Mulgan, March 2010