Joseph Wilhelm
Greeting 2008
First of all I would like to say thank you. Thank you for your interest in the newly created “One World Award”. The purpose of this prize is to honour individuals and initiatives for their commitment to giving a positive dimension to the inexorable tide of globalisation. We all live in the one world – and supposedly with the same rights and duties for all! But it is obvious that we are very far from this supposition. Many and varied activities are necessary in order to ensure that globalisation serves everyone equally, rather than simply leading us to a one-sided exploitation. We want to distinguish a few “lighthouse-projects” as an encouragement and incentive to all.
At this point I would like to thank all friends and colleagues, who have contributed to making this idea into a well-founded project in a very short time. The One World Award aims to motivate initiatives and activists everywhere to continue to do their utmost for a fair world in which it is worth living.
I also wish to express my gratitude to the IFOAM, which has not only bravely and actively involved itself as partner and patron of the One World Initiative but also provided the platform for the first award presentation at the IFOAM World Congress in Modena. There could not have been a better forum.
Many thanks to the members of the jury Vandana Shiva, Tewolde Eghziaber, Alberto Pipo Lernoud and to the co-ordinator Bernward Geier, who took part in the selection process with commitment and expertise.
Thanks also to the numerous applicants from various continents. I invite all candidates who were not awarded a prize to apply again before the end of April 2009. Nominations for the OWA (One World Award) 2010, which will in future be presented every two years, will be accepted until this date.
I am very happy that the jury was able to agree unanimously on the winner of the award – no easy task. As patron, it fell to the IFOAM to name the candidate for the Lifetime Achievement Award. Here too, the jury was unified in its decision.
Heartfelt congratulations to both winners and to the finalists and I wish them courage, perseverance and success for the continuation of their projects! My wish for the One World Award is that it will, from now on, motivate people and initiatives to get involved for a just and healthy world in which our children still have a future.
Joseph Wilhelm
Initiator of the One World Award
Chairman of Rapunzel Naturkost
