Onassis Foundation has purposefully named the new prize after Hestia, the ancient goddess of hearth, domestic life and family, to denote the new home and life immigrants build in host countries, as well as their integration. This international distinction is accompanied by the amount of 50,000 euro and is intended to reward an outstanding pioneering social initiative contributing to the social integration of immigrants and human development.

	Top: The Organizing Committee at the closing session Centre: (from left) Demetrios Papademetriou, Costas Gavras and P. Sutherland Bottom: Representatives of immigrant organizations from all over the world were given the opportunity to share their experiences

Onassis Foundation, in its attempt to stress its eagerness to keep up with any future discourse on migration and development, has established the awarding of this prize for the next three years, coinciding with the next two Global Forums on Migration and Development; in Mexico in 2010, hosted by Latin America, and in Madrid in 2011, hosted by Europe.

The programme of the Medecins du Monde was selected out of 27 humanitarian organizations and NGOs from all over Greece. The candidacies were assessed by the six-member Awarding Committee, consisting of both Greek and foreign academics, as well as representatives of C.S.D, and chaired by (non-voting) the Secretary of the Onassis Foundation BoD, Marianna Moschou. Thereafter, the five short-listed participations were graded by a twenty-member International Advisory Board of 2009 Civil Society Days Forum.

Mrs. Marianna Moschou, Chair of the Awarding Committee, has stated: "We have received many remarkable applications and the choice was indeed hard. We are honoured to enhance the efficiency of humanitarian initiatives, which this year sprung up in Greece, next year will be stemming from Latin America, and in 2011 from Europe."

"We are very pleased that this year' prize is granted to an organization of international repute, and proud because the "Hestia" prize can constitute the means for us to contribute to the spread of its valuable offer", stated Anthony Papadimitriou, President of the Onassis Foundation, at the closing session.

The programme "Open Polyclinic" run by Medecins du Monde-Greece offers free medical and pharmaceutical care, as well as psychosocial support, to groups of immigrants with limited or no access to the National Health System and social services. The organization' workforce consists of volunteer specialized doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists, Greek and immigrants, with the help of whom more than 150,000 immigrant patients from Iraq, Bangladesh, Africa, Iran, Bulgaria, Poland, Ukraine and Albania have received medical care in the polyclinics of Athens, Thessaloniki and Chania, Crete, during the past 12 years.

With this initiative, the Onassis Foundation validates its irreducible interest and strong commitment to the fundamental social challenge of immigration.