Vienna, 8 September 2016: The winners of the Intercultural Achievement Award (IAA) granted by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs (BMEIA) visited the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) today.

During their visit, they received an introduction to the Centre’s work promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue around the world, in particular through its peacebuilding and reconciliation work in Africa and the Middle East, and its work supporting refugees in Europe. They also met the Centre’s diverse staff, and visited a training in interreligious dialogue by experts at the Centre.

The winners of this year’s Intercultural Achievement Award include a Vienna-based project, “*peppa - the Intercultural Centre for Girls” . A Caritas project, *peppa supports the social participation of girls and young women both with and without a migration background through counseling, education and leisure activities, and was awarded in the “Special Award for Integration” category.

Faisal Bin Muaammar, KAICIID Secretary General said: “The IAA winners are literally living dialogue. Dialogue is not theory, rather it is practical reality that offers real benefits. Through these individual stories, it is very easy to see the positive impact that dialogue achieves by building new bridges of trust and understanding between people. We congratulate the winners and hope that the recognition and support the Austrian Foreign Ministry generates through its Intercultural Achievement Award will allow these stories to inspire even more people as they have us. We thank the Austrian Foreign Ministry for the opportunity to share our work with them.”

The four other award winners come from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.