Martina (Tina) Bednar

Most people who are active in Diversity & Inclusion are very passionate about this topic, regardless if they work for an NGO, are activists or work in a business environment. To find a motivation is not always easy so without their passion we would not see all the great ideas and initiatives they drive.

But how to find someone for our award in the pool of great and passionate individuals? What must happen that the person really stands out, goes beyond borders and is paving a new way forward? There is someone who we met and who very soon convinced us with an endless amount of motivation and drive to mobilize others to take action. And this all as a “side job” next to the main work in an international corporate environment and next to the family life (a rainbow family life).

This person transformed a simple idea into a first milestone – signatures of the first 25 corporates that appeal on their country leadership to stop LGBTIQ discrimination and ensure an adequate legal protection in Slovakia. And this is just a start!

The person awarded the 2023 East meets West Award: Martina (Tina) Bednar, SAP Austria

QWIEN - Zentrum für Queere Geschichte

Do you know how LGBTIQ life was 10 years ago? Perhaps. And what about 20 years or even 50 years ago? Probably not. The LGBTIQ history is rich and fascinating. We are just a small link in a long chain of LGBTIQ people who all tried to live their own life in the best possible way. But somebody needs to guard these traces of LGBTIQ life through time and keep them alive. With this year’s East meets West NGO Award we want to honor a team that are the guardians of history of Queer living in Vienna over the years.

Please applaud to QWIEN - Zentrum für Queere Geschichte.

The award will be accepted by Andreas Brunner, the managing director of QWIEN

UNIQA Insurance Group

East meets West is often confronted with corporate players that made Diversity, Inclusion and Equality to an essential part of their company identity. Very often these are companies that operate globally, followed by similar European companies but not very often, we find this in EU companies that are quite active in the CEE region. We know that implementing these, often quite challenging Diversity, Inclusion and Equality values, in our region can be challenging and demands a strong and resolute management. East meets West is proud to know such company that creates a safe environment for their LGBTIQ employees in all their local centres.

You might have guessed the Corporate Prizewinner of the 2023 East meets West Award. This year’s East meets West Award for Corporates goes to the UNIQA INSURANCE GROUP.

The award was be accepted by Rene Knapp, Member of the Board at UNIQA Group International.

Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic

Very often the relationship between the LGBTIQ community and the political powers in a country is quite challenging, sometimes even dangerous. The reasons can be manifold. Executing power is a balancing exercise, influenced by the many powerful players in a country and this often does not lead to changing mindsets. Even when the membership of e.g. the EU created non-discrimination legislation in a country, turning such laws into active tools to end discriminations is quite rare. And even more exceptional is a leading political figure that, once elected, has the courage not only to publicly speak out in favour of Diversity and Inclusion but also use the high level social position to support local activities in favour of e.g. the LGBTIQ community. Slovakia is fortunate to have such an ally who picked up the thread and by doing so, started a gradual change of mindset towards the local LGBTIQ community.

The Person awarded the 2022 East meets West Award is Her Excellency Mrs. Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic.

Fulcrum (Ukraine)

East meets West works with a large number of NGO’s (non-governmental organisation), mostly in the CEE region, so awarding a prize to one of them is normally quite a challenge. All of them work in often homophobic environments but all of them keep working on improving the life of their local communities. But what should you do as NGO when your country is invaded by a foreign power whose hostile attitude towards the LGBTIQ community is clear? For the 2022 NGO Prizewinner there was no hesitation! So they picked up the thread, more than ever convinced that their work should continue, only in a safer environment. So they moved their team from Kiyv to Lviv where they operate now shelters for refugees, provide humanitarian aid and continue working on their strategic goals - equal rights for the LGBTQ community in Ukraine.

The NGO Prizewinner of the 2022 East meets West Award is Fulcrum Ukraine. The award was accepted by Tania Kasian, Communications Manager at Fulcrum Ukraine.

Raiffeisen Bank International

We from East meets West know, meet and cooperate increasingly with large businesses. The Corporate Social Responsibility awareness entered also the Board rooms of European corporates that are active in the CEE region. But compared to more global corporates, such actions are still quite timid and made with hesitation. This also was the case with this 2022 Corporate Prizewinner until something surprisingly happened. An LGBTIQ member of the personal was faced in his life with a case of existential discrimination, the internal LGBTIQ ERG (Employee Resource Group) started an action to the end this legal injustice and the Corporate put his shoulders to the wheel and mobilised other large companies to join this action and finally, all together, they used their influence to end this discrimination. Not only did this Corporate put CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) in practice but they really picked up the thread within the company and have become a driver of Diversity & Inclusion in all their CEE country activities.

The Corporate Prizewinner of the 2022 East meets West Award is Raiffeisen Bank International. The award was accepted by Ronald Wiesinger, Co-lead of the Raiffeisen EMBRACE ERG (Austria).

Fabrice Houdart (USA)

Fabrice Houdart is a member of the LGBTIQ community with a unique track record. As Human Rights Officer at the United Nations, he co-authored and led the United Nations Global LGBTI standards of conduct for Business, the largest corporate social responsibility initiative on LGBTI issues in the World.  Also during his career at the World Bank, he made a real difference by advancing the LGBTIQ topic within this large organisation. Also in his actual position as Out Leadership Managing Director of Global Initiatives, he shows an impressive activity drive in launching new initiatives and supporting existing ones like East meets West. We have experienced him as a man who is always ready to help us and share with East meets West his vast experiences as an authentic LGBTIQ activist.

Fabrice serves on 8 non-profit Boards including Outright Action International, Housing Works and the Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA). He was ranked 2nd by Yahoo Finance among LGBTI public sector executives globally in their 2019 Outstanding list.

Federation Sign of Equality (Poland)

The FEDERACJA ZNAKI RÓWNOŚCI (Federation Signs of Equality) stands out by the number of impactful activities in a hostile environment and by their positive attitude towards new international partners. It is the first Polish federation which brings together organisations that act for the LGBTIQ community. Their currently 9 member organisations run various initiatives, from cultural and artistic ones, through legal representation and assistance, to sport and health-related initiatives, and have all one goal in common: to build an open and diverse society, free from any sort of discrimination, in particular discrimination concerning sexuality and gender. In June 2019 they opened the LGBTQ+ Community Centre DOM EQ and since then, this community centre hosted over 4000 visitors and more than 300 events, support groups, initiatives, movie nights, and so much more.

The 2021 Award in category “NGO” was handed over to Mateusz Gędźba, who serves as the President of the Board at FEDERACJA ZNAKI RÓWNOŚCI (Federation Signs of Equality).

Accenture

There is a rising number of corporates that already ‘breath’ Diversity and Inclusion. Also Accenture incorporated this as their company value, a value that is not limited to certain business locations. Accenture is not only one of them. Accenture in our opinion leads and inspires other corporates to take action…, being it in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or when developing a responsible supply chain. By its actions, Accenture significantly contributes to a social change and the acceptance of LGBTIQ people (not only) in a business environment.

To hand over an award to a company of over 500 ths. employees is a rather challenging task to do. However, there is one person, who since the first time we met, was for us at East meets West not only a great ally, but also a great mentor. The 2021 Awards in category “Corporates” was handed over to Nedra Dickson, the Managing Director, Global Supplier Inclusion & Sustainability Lead and Procurement Europe Market Lead.

Jens Schadendorf (Germany)

Jens Schadendorf is a well known economist and book changemaker. Jens focuses on LGBT+equality, responsible business, organisational and social change and thought leadership. He has published several books. His latest "GaYme Changer: How the LGBT+ community and their allies are changing the global economy" is the first of its kind. All the effort Jens put into documenting how for a long time marginalised, stigmatised and criminalised the LGBT+ community became champions of creativity, diversity and innovation in a highly competitive world. Jens deserves a recognition and was awarded the 1st East meets West Award for an outstanding personality.

ERA - LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey

ERA - LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans and Turkey is a longtime ally of East meets West.  ERA did something unique in the sense that they united LGBTIQ groups from the Western Balkan and Turkey and this way grew their impact in a challenging region. What is even more remarkable is that ERA is mature enough to reach out to the local business world. Therefore it is our pleasure to give the 1st East meets West Award for an NGO to ERA, represented a the 2020 Conference by Dragana Todorovic, ERA’s Executive Director.

Barilla

Not often large international companies openly recognise that their attitude and strategy towards Diversity and Inclusion of LGBTIQ people, inside and outside their company, was wrong. Even less companies have the courage to turn their strategy around and become real convinced advocates of Diversity and Inclusion. Barilla is such a company. Therefore it is our pleasure to give the 1st East meets West Award for a Corporate Business to Barilla, represented at the 2020 Conference by Eliano Apicella. He is the Purchasing Director - Indirect Materials, Services, Energy and Investments at Barilla Group.