FAQ
Aurora Humanitarian Initiative
The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is the vision of
philanthropists Vartan Gregorian,
Noubar Afeyan and Ruben Vardanyan who
have been joined by thousands of supporters and partners. Aurora’s Chair, Dr. Tom Catena, draws on his experience аs a surgeon, veteran, humanitarian
and the 2017 Aurora Prize laureate to spread the message of Gratitude in Action
to a global audience.
The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is represented by three
organizations – the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Foundation, Inc. (New York,
USA), the 100 Lives Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) and the Aurora
Humanitarian Initiative Charitable Foundation (Yerevan, Armenia).
The Aurora Humanitarian
Initiative was founded in 2015, by three people committed to honoring the
memory of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide by supporting projects that
honor their saviors. Since that time, thousands of individuals and
organizations have been inspired to join the Co-Founders in transforming a
nation’s gratitude to action.
For further information on
Aurora's supporters, please visit the Supporters and Partners sections on our
webpage.
All those who support our
vision are welcome to join this movement. With growing resources, the Aurora
Humanitarian Initiative will expand programming that tackles new crises and
challenges and offers life and hope to the vulnerable. Aurora will urge those
fortunate enough to have been rescued and given a new chance on life to express
their own gratitude by becoming the next generation of savior. Thus, the
cycle of giving will continue, empathy will replace sympathy and in memory of
the survivors, we will embrace all those who believe in a shared humanity.
You can find additional
information here.
The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative
creates and supports programs designed to raise public awareness and address
the world’s most pressing humanitarian issues. These programs include:
- The
Aurora Prize for
Awakening Humanity;
- The #AraratChallenge movement, a
global crowdfunding initiative addressing humanitarian needs in Armenia
and Armenian communities globally. The crowdfunding campaign is set to
increase the impact and reach of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative to
combat poverty, improve healthcare and provide education to those in need;
- The Aurora
Dialogues:
a series of thoughtful discussions among leading members of the political,
humanitarian, and business communities to raise awareness and address some
of the world’s most pressing humanitarian issues;
- The Aurora Grants:
humanitarian and educational initiatives which help children, refugees and
other vulnerable citizens around the world;
- The Aurora
Community: a program that brings
together selfless individuals from across the globe doing vital work on
the local level, allowing them to exchange their knowledge and support
each other, as well as to use Aurora’s humanitarian network to advance
their causes;
- The
Aurora Index: a survey
examining public perceptions of major humanitarian issues. It explores the
international public’s attitudes toward both responsibility and effectiveness
of humanitarian intervention, as well as the factors that urge people to
intervene on behalf of others;
- 100
LIVES,
a global media and content creation project aimed at preserving the memory
of the victims and survivors of the Armenian Genocide, as well as those
who intervened on their behalf a century ago. It is also a platform to
present the stories of the Armenian diaspora and its connections to the
Armenian heritage, culture and values.
All programs are designed
to honor and support deserving individuals and organizations as an expression
of gratitude to the saviors who intervened on behalf of Armenians a century
ago.
The Aurora Humanitarian
Initiative is the umbrella initiative that encompasses the Aurora Prize for
Awakening Humanity and the Aurora Dialogues, as well as several other programs.
The programs were established to honor those undertaking extraordinary acts to
preserve human life and advance humanitarian causes, and also to foster
dialogue among leading experts from the international humanitarian, business,
philanthropic and media communities on the most pressing challenges facing the
world today.
The programs help to
advance the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative’s overall aim of addressing some of
the world’s most pressing humanitarian issues.
The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative is a foundation that seeks to
address on-the-ground humanitarian challenges around the world with the focus
on helping the most destitute. Its mission is rooted in the Armenian history as
the Initiative was founded on behalf of the survivors of
the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors and strives to transform
this experience into a global movement.
All Aurora’s activities are based on
the universal concept of Gratitude in Action. It implies that countless
people around the world who have received aid in time of crisis can best
express their gratitude by offering similar assistance to someone else. By
involving Aurora supporters around the world, this will become a global
endeavor that will snowball to expand the circle of saviors and most
importantly – the number of those saved.
Addressing urgent humanitarian
challenges, the Initiative provides a second chance to those who need it
the most. True to its vision – “We believe that even in the darkest times, a
brighter future is in the hands of those who are committed to giving others
help and hope” – Aurora welcomes all who embrace this philosophy.
Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity
The Aurora Prize is
awarded by the Selection Committee, a group of exceptional individuals with
notable achievements in the field of human rights. The Selection Committee
evaluates nominations against a set of pre-agreed criteria to determine the
Aurora Prize Laureate, ensuring that the selection process is fair and
unbiased. The Selection Committee is independent from, but supported by, the
Aurora Prize Secretariat for all functional and operational matters.
2020 Aurora Prize
The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity recognized the 2020 Aurora Humanitarians who were chosen by the Selection Committee for their exceptional courage, commitment and impact:
- Fartuun Adan and Ilwad Elman – for years, this mother and daughter team has been championing human rights, protecting women’s rights, promoting peacebuilding and rehabilitating child soldiers. Their courage, resilience and unwavering commitment to the people of Somalia has earned Fartuun Adan and Ilwad Elman both national and global recognition. They received the 2015 Gleitsman International Activist Award and were chosen as the 2017 Aurora Humanitarians.
- Angélique Namaika – a member of the Augustinian congregation, Sister Angélique Namaika is the cofounder of the Center for Reintegration and Development and the Saint Daniel Comboni Pediatric Clinic the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Her center has supported thousands of displaced women and children who fell victims to the civil war in the country.
- Sophie Beau and Klaus Vogel – Unlikely partners Sophie Beau and Klaus Vogel are the co-founders of SOS Méditerranée (SOS Mediterranean), a civil European association for search and rescue on the high seas with teams in Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland. To date, SOS Méditerranée has helped more than 30,000 refugees making the dangerous crossing off the coast of Libya.
- Sakena Yacoobi – She was one of the first people to open schools for women and girls in refugee camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the 1990s. It was the time of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, and women and girls were forbidden from getting an education. Rule-breakers risked paying with their life.
2019 Aurora Prize
The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity’s Selection Committee has named three outstanding 2019 Aurora Humanitarians, recognized for performing acts of exceptional courage and their commitment to saving human life:
- Mr. Mirza Dinnayi, Co-Founder and Director of Luftbrücke Irak (Air Bridge Iraq), a humanitarian organization that flies Yazidi victims from Iraq to Germany for medical treatment. Mirza Dinnayi has helped several hundred women escape from the territories controlled by ISIS, personally taking part in missions to bring them back to safety, and delivered food and water to the Yazidis in isolated areas. Driven by his passion to save lives, he has found a way to overcome numerous bureaucratic and logistic obstacles to help the most vulnerable. Mr. Dinnayi has nominated three organizations that provide medical care and rehabilitation to victims of ISIS terror.
- Mr. Zannah Bukar Mustapha, lawyer, Director and Founder of Future Prowess Islamic Foundation – a school that provides education to some of the most deprived children in Maiduguri, Nigeria. In October 2016, he secretly traveled to meet with Boko Haram rebels in their Sambisa forest hideout during a media blackout and left with 21 children. Thirteen months later, supported by ICRC, the Swiss government and the Nigerian authorities, he negotiated the additional release of 82 girls. Zannah Bukar Mustapha has nominated three organizations that aim to reduce conflict through strong community effort and good governance.
- Ms. Huda Al-Sarari, lawyer and activist. Huda Al-Sarari is a brave and inspiring Yemeni human rights activist, who singlehandedly investigates, exposes and challenges a clandestine network of secret prisons run by foreign governments in Yemen, where thousands of men and boys have faced arbitrary detention. She has amassed incontrovertible evidence of the abuse that takes place within the prisons and succeeded in convincing Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to take up the cause. She has nominated an international organization that defends victims of extreme human rights abuse and two organizations that combat discrimination and promote equality.
2018 Aurora Prize
The 2018 Aurora Prize has recognized three Aurora Humanitarians who were chosen by the Selection Committee for their exceptional impact:
- Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung, Lawyer and Rohingya Leader, Myanmar – A Rohingya Muslim who, despite being imprisoned for a collective 12 years for peaceful protests against systematic discrimination and violence, uses his legal expertise to fight for equality, improvements in education and human rights for his community. He has nominated international organizations that provide medical aid and assistance to refugees in Myanmar.
- Fr. Héctor Tomás González Castillo, Founder of La 72, Mexico – A Franciscan friar who has provided shelter, food, water, counseling and legal assistance to more than 50,000 Central American immigrants along their often-harrowing journeys through Mexico, providing aid to all, including those who suffer traumatic attacks, attempted kidnappings and expulsions from their own countries. He has nominated organizations working to promote human rights for those living with HIV/AIDS and to provide cultural education to Mayans in Mexico.
- Mrs. Sunitha Krishnan, Co-Founder of Prajwala, India – A gang rape survivor turned women’s rights advocate who used her trauma as motivation to rescue, rehabilitate and reintegrate victims of sex trafficking and forced prostitution back into society, creating an organization that has positively impacted the lives of more than 17,800 women and children. She has nominated organizations that fight gender imbalance and sexual violence and trafficking throughout India.
- Ms. Fartuun Adan and Ms. Ilwad Elman, Founders of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre, Somalia – Mother and daughter who are unwavering in their mission to protect human rights, women’s rights, and facilitate peace building, development and the rehabilitation of child soldiers amidst insecure and dangerous conditions.
- Ms. Jamila Afghani, Chairperson of the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization, Afghanistan – a polio victim who accidentally received the gift of reading and has dedicated her life to bringing reading and education to girls and women, while enlisting the help of Muslim leaders of faith in her mission.
- Mr. Muhammad Darwish, Medical Doctor at the Madaya Field Hospital, Syria – A student of dentistry returned to his hometown and took on the full responsibilities of a medical doctor, began to perform medical procedures, offered care and maintained meticulous documentation of the conditions of patients, many of them children, affected by persisting violence, thus bringing international attention to the besieged area.
- Dr. Denis Mukwege, Gynecological Surgeon and Founder of the Panzi Hospital, The Democratic Republic of the Congo – An obstetrician turned gynecological surgeon who is providing physical, psychological and legal support to more than 50,000 survivors of sexual violence in the war-torn country while fearlessly seeking to bring to justice those responsible.
2016 Aurora Prize
In addition to the Laureate, 2016 Aurora Prize also recognized three Humanitarians who were chosen by the Selection Committee for their exceptional impact:
- Dr. Tom Catena, the sole doctor at Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. An American physician, Dr. Catena is the only doctor permanently based near the country’s border with South Sudan, and is therefore responsible for serving over 500,000 people in the region. Despite several bombings by the Sudanese government, Dr. Catena resides on the hospital grounds so that he may be on call at all times. In 2017, Dr. Catena was nominated for the Aurora Prize for the second time and became the Aurora Prize Laureate.
- Syeda Ghulam Fatima has worked tirelessly to eradicate bonded labor, one of the last remaining forms of modern slavery. Fatima is the general secretary of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan (BLLF), which has liberated thousands of Pakistani workers, including approximately 21,000 children, who were forced to work for brick kiln owners in order to repay debts. Fatima has survived attempts on her life and repeated beatings during the course of her activism.
- Father Bernard Kinvi left his home country of Lome, Togo to Bossemptele, a small town just inside the border of the Central African Republic, to head a Catholic mission. In 2012, civil war broke out in the Central African Republic between Muslim Seleka rebels and the anti-balaka Christian militia. Amidst the violence, Father Kinvi’s mission provided refuge and health services to those on both sides of the conflict, saving hundreds of people from persecution and death.
The Aurora Humanitarian
Initiative awarded the 2020 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity to Fartuun
Adan and Ilwad Elman, the mother and daughter team who lead the Elman Peace and Human
Rights Centre in Somalia. Fartuun Adan and Ilwad Elman have been protecting
women’s rights, promoting peacebuilding, and rehabilitating child soldiers for
many years. Their courage, resilience, and unwavering commitment to the people
of Somalia has brought this mother and daughter team global recognition.
The 2019 Aurora Prize was
awarded to Mirza
Dinnayi,
Co-Founder and Director of Luftbrücke Irak (Air Bridge Iraq), a humanitarian
organization that flies Yazidi victims from Iraq to Germany for medical
treatment. He has helped several hundred women escape from the territories
controlled by ISIS, personally taking part in missions to bring them back to
safety, and delivered food and water to the Yazidis in isolated areas.
The 2018 Aurora Prize for
Awakening Humanity was awarded to Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung, a lawyer and activist
recognized for his dedication to fighting for equality, education and human
rights for the Rohingya people in Myanmar, in the face of persecution, harassment
and oppression.
The 2017 Aurora Prize was
awarded to Dr.
Tom Catena, a Catholic missionary from Amsterdam, New York who has saved
thousands of lives as the sole doctor permanently based in Sudan’s war-ravaged
Nuba Mountains.
In 2016, Marguerite Barankitse
from Maison Shalom and REMA Hospital in Burundi was named as the inaugural
Laureate of
the $1 million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. At a ceremony held in
Yerevan, Armenia, Barankitse was recognized for the extraordinary impact she
has had in saving thousands of lives and caring for orphans and refugees during
the years of civil war in Burundi.
The principal funders are Noubar Afeyan and Ruben Vardanyan, Co-Founders of the Aurora Humanitarian
Initiative, who have been joined by several dozen supporters and partners.
The Aurora Prize is
governed by the Co-Founders of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative – Noubar
Afeyan, Vartan Gregorian and Ruben Vardanyan – and the Selection Committee. In
2018, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative was proud to appoint Dr. Tom Catena as
its inaugural Chair. See more information here.
The Aurora Prize Secretariat,
which is comprised of Aurora Humanitarian Initiative representatives, is
responsible for communicating and implementing all processes and procedures.
This includes the initial review of the nominations received during the first
stage of the Aurora prize nomination cycle.
An Independent Observer
monitors all the selection and communications processes between the Secretariat
and Selection Committee.
The Aurora Prize is a part
of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative – a philanthropic effort comprised of programs
designed to raise awareness and to impact today’s important humanitarian
challenges, while honoring the memory of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide
and the spirit of the saviors who intervened on their behalf. More than a
century ago, 1.5 million Armenians were killed on orders of the Ottoman Turkish
government. Those who survived or fled and found shelter did so, often, thanks
to the help of strangers. Today, the Aurora Prize aims to thank the individuals
and institutions whose actions saved lives more than a century ago.
The Aurora Prize was
established to raise public consciousness about this and other acts of violence
that continue to occur around the globe, honoring survivors and saviors and celebrating
the strength of the human spirit that compels action in the face of
adversity.
Current members of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee are:
- Lord Ara Darzi (Selection Committee Chair) – Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London
- George Clooney (Selection Committee Honorary Co-Chair) – Co-Founder, The Sentry; Humanitarian, performer and filmmaker
- Benjamin Ferencz (Selection Committee Honorary Co-Chair) – world famous peace and human rights activist
- Shirin Ebadi – Human Rights Lawyer and Iran's first female judge; Nobel Laureate
- Leymah Gbowee – Executive Director of the Women Peace and Security Network (WIPSEN-Africa); Nobel Laureate
- Vartan Gregorian – Co-Founder, Aurora Humanitarian Initiative; President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Hina Jilani – Former United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders
- Bernard Kouchner – Médecins Sans Frontières co-founder and former foreign minister of France
- Paul Polman – Co-founder and Chair of IMAGINE; former CEO of Unilever
- Samantha Power – Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
- John Prendergast – Human Rights Activist and Co-founder, The Sentry
- Mary Robinson – Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Former President of Ireland
- Ernesto Zedillo – Director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization; Former President of Mexico
- Oscar Arias (Honorary Member) – Two-time President of Costa Rica; Nobel Laureate
- Gareth Evans (Honorary Member) – President Emeritus of the International Crisis Group; Former Australian Foreign Minister
- Valery Gergiev (Honorary Member) – Artistic and General Director; Mariinsky Theatre; Principal Conductor of the Munich Philharmoniker
In memory:
• Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) – Inaugural Selection Committee Co-Chair, President of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity; Nobel Laureate
For further information on each of the members, please visit the Selection Committee section on our webpage.
The nominations are
assessed according to the selection criteria by the Aurora Prize Secretariat
and Expert Panel. The members of the Expert Panel assess all eligible
nominations according to the Aurora Prize selection criteria to narrow the
overall list to 20-25 nominees for the Selection Committee’s attention.
Members of the Selection
Committee review
a shortlist of candidates, drawing upon their own expertise, nomination forms
and additional information assembled by the Secretariat to determine the Aurora
Humanitarians.
The Aurora Prize’s
Independent Observer supervises all processes according to an established
protocol to ensure transparency and consistency.
Nominations for the 2021
Aurora Prize are now closed. The next annual nomination period will open in
2021. Further information about the nominations process will be available on
the Aurora website in the “Nominate Now” section.
Members of the public, as
well as members of national assemblies, governments, academic institutions and
others, may nominate an individual or group of people for the Prize, with
consideration of the following requirements:
- The
Nominator may not be an officer or employee or any other individual
receiving remuneration for his or her services from the Nominee or any
party affiliated with the Aurora Prize (Secretariat, Selection Committee,
and Independent Observer).
- The Nominator
may not be a family member or an officer or employee of the Nominee.
- Self-nominations are not permitted.
- Selection Committee members and their families are ineligible to submit nominations. However, Selection Committee members may invite and encourage nominations from the public and specifically reach out to organizations working in the field.
Each nominated
organization undergoes a comprehensive due diligence process conducted by a
third-party firm to ensure the organization is legitimate and will put the
funding to effective use.
The Aurora Prize Laureate is
honored with a US $1,000,000 award and has the unique opportunity to continue
the cycle of giving by nominating and supporting organizations that inspired
their humanitarian action.
Qualified organizations
will operate on a not-for-profit basis and act in the public interest with a
mission to benefit humankind. This could include, but is not limited to, providing
relief to the poor, advancing education, improving social welfare, protecting
women and children, preserving culture, preserving or restoring the
environment, promoting human rights, establishing civil society and/or
advancing healthcare.
The extent to which the Nominee’s actions demonstrate:
- Courage in helping
others survive
- Having overcome
significant risks for the sake of helping others survive
- Going beyond the call of
duty of professional obligations for the sake of helping others survive
- An explicit intention to
help others survive
- A direct involvement in
helping others survive
- A commitment to common
moral values such as integrity, freedom, justice, honesty, truthfulness,
responsibility and compassion
- An impact on saving
lives
- A long-term effect in
saving lives
- Inspiration to others to
save lives, directly or indirectly
- Saving lives of a large
number of individuals
Any individual or group
that perform(s) an extraordinary act of humanity may be nominated to receive
the Aurora Prize. The Aurora Prize Laureate is recognized for the exceptional
impact their actions have made in preserving human life in the face of
adversity, risking their health, freedom, reputation or livelihood.
The Aurora Prize for
Awakening Humanity is a global humanitarian award. Its mission is to recognize
and support those who risk their own lives, health or freedom to save the
lives, health or freedom of others suffering as a result of violent conflict,
atrocity crimes or other major human rights violations.
On behalf of the survivors
of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, an Aurora Prize
Laureate is honored each year between 2015 and 2023 (in remembrance of the
eight years of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1923) with a US $1,000,000 award,
which gives the Laureate a unique opportunity to continue the cycle of giving
and to support the organizations that have inspired the humanitarian action.
Nominees are not limited
to those who work within the humanitarian field. The Aurora Prize recognizes
worthy recipients from any background who have faced significant risks to
health, freedom, reputation or livelihood and voluntarily carried out actions
to enable others to survive and thrive.
Nominations may span a
broad range of sectors in the non-profit field, including economic development,
public health, religion, law/justice/human rights, education and capacity
building.
Aurora For Artsakh By #AraratChallenge
The #AraratChallenge is a
global crowdfunding initiative addressing humanitarian needs in Armenia and
Armenian communities globally. The crowdfunding
campaign is set to increase the impact and reach of
the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative to combat poverty, improve healthcare and provide
education to those in need. Anyone can join
this movement and give a second chance to those
who need it most.
As
COVID-19 began to spread across the globe, the #AraratChallenge movement made a
$120,000 donation to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Armenia to buy
ventilators and to support local health professionals on the front lines. When
a huge explosion rocked the capital of Lebanon, Aurora donated $200,000 to help
the citizens of Beirut and called on the global Armenian community for funding.
Starting
from October 2020, the #AraratChallenge movement has been used to raise funds
for humanitarian initiatives helping the people of Artsakh affected by the war.
Through Aurora for Artsakh, the Initiative helps the people of Artsakh facing a grave humanitarian crisis in the aftermath of the war. Since the launch of its humanitarian aid program for Artsakh, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative has already allocated $1,700,000 to support 75 projects in Artsakh implemented by both local and international partners and to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Artsakh through the Hayastan All Armenian Fund.
The Aurora for Artsakh program also includes bringing the world humanitarian leaders to the region to find new opportunities to help the local people, to support Artsakh’s international standing, and to ensure effective solutions on the ground.
Aurora Dialogues
The Core Programming of
the Dialogues is held annually in Armenia as part of a weekend of events
culminating with the presentation of the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity.
The Additional Aurora Dialogues Programming includes conferences and public
lectures that are held internationally aiming to bring together leaders with
the unique expertise and contribute to finding solutions to the world’s most
pressing humanitarian challenges.
Visit the Aurora Prize
website under the “Aurora
Dialogues”
section for further information and for recordings of previous Dialogues.
The annual forum in
Armenia and international Dialogues are attended by leading humanitarians,
academics, philanthropists and civil society representatives. Speakers include
members of the esteemed Aurora Prize Selection Committee, influential leaders
and thinkers from around the world who are committed to advancing humanitarian
causes.
The Aurora Dialogues
provide a platform for the world’s leading humanitarians, academics,
philanthropists and members of civil society to come together for a series of
insightful discussions about some of today’s most pressing humanitarian
challenges. In keeping with the spirit of the Aurora Prize for Awakening
Humanity, the Aurora Dialogues shine a light on the people who are working to
address today’s issues in a real and substantial manner and seek to identify
ideas that will deliver tangible change. The Dialogues encourage collaborative
conversations to explore the importance of learning from the past, acting in
the present, and fostering a better future.
In 2020, due to the
outbreak of COVID-19, the Aurora Dialogues have gone online, allowing people
from around the world to join the discussion and contribute to it.
Aurora Grants
Through the Aurora Grants, the
descendants of the Armenian Genocide survivors seek to honor the memory of
their ancestors’ saviors by supporting educational initiatives and preserving
Armenian heritage while promoting humanitarian efforts and Armenian history.
Educational projects
include The Vartan Gregorian Scholarship (Research Grants) Program that
supports early-career researchers of Armenian history in the 20th century and
the Young Aurora Program intended to encourage student-driven projects offering
sustainable solutions to humanitarian issues. The scholarships covered by
Aurora allowed 62 students, all of them representatives of the at-risk and
vulnerable youth, to study at the United World College (UWC) network of schools
and the American University of Armenia. Individual scholarships include those
named after Lamya Haji Bashar (given to Yazidi students),
Amal Clooney (given to a female student
from Lebanon with strong interest in human rights) and Charles Aznavour (awarded to students from
France and Francophone countries).
Aurora Grants help raise
awareness of humanitarian action worldwide by contributing to the initiatives
assisting underserved communities. In 2020, $100,000 was allocated to the
Elmhurst Hospital in Queens to honor the NYC COVID-19 heroes and a $50,000
grant was transferred to the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa-USA founded by
Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee.
In accordance with the
Memory Act, the Aurora Grants also support Armenia’s national repository of
ancient manuscripts, the Matenadaran, and the Armenian Genocide
Museum-institute, contributing to the preservation of Armenian culture and
history.
Additional information can
be found here.
Aurora Community
The Aurora Community program
brings together selfless individuals from across the globe doing vital work on
the local level, allowing them to exchange their knowledge and support each
other, as well as use Aurora’s humanitarian network to advance their causes.
The project was launched in December 2020 and is still in its early stages. The
main goal of the Aurora Community is to serve as a catalyzer for future change,
empowering modern-day heroes by creating a unique connection between
like-minded people and providing them with a much-needed support system.
Aurora Index
The Aurora Humanitarian
Index is a special survey that examines public perceptions of major
humanitarian issues. It explores the international public’s attitudes toward
both responsibility and effectiveness of humanitarian intervention, as well as
the motivations that urge people to intervene on behalf of others.
In 2016-2018, the Aurora
Humanitarian Index was conducted across multiple countries and its findings
presented during the Aurora Dialogues, an international platform for
discussions among leading experts in the humanitarian community. Further
information about the Humanitarian Index is available on the Aurora Prize
website under the “Aurora Index” section.
100 LIVES Initiative
100 LIVES, the inaugural
project of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, was launched in March 2015 to commemorate
the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, in which the overwhelming majority of
the Armenian population perished. Those who survived did so thanks to the
benevolent intervention of institutions and individuals – often strangers.
Inspired by the story of Aurora Mardiganian, together with thousands of other
accounts of courage and humanity, 100 LIVES seeks and shares the stories of
Armenian Genocide survivors, their saviors and descendants. In keeping with the
spirit of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, each story is a reflection of a
unique cycle taking a victim from surviving to thriving and giving back.
Additional information can
be found here.
Contact Information
Address
6, Marshal Baghramyan Avenue,
0019 Yerevan, Republic of Armenia
e-mail: [email protected]
For all media enquiries:
e-mail: media@auroarprize.com
Tel.: + 374 60 700 800 ext. (119)