Sialkot: December 10, 2012. (PCP) United Nation Alliance of Civilization (UNOAC) and BMW group Germany has awarded prestigious global Intercultural Innovation Award for 2011 to well renowned Pakistani Civil Society Organization Pakistan Council for Social Welfare & Human Rights to acknowledge the PCSW&HR efforts for the promotion of interfaith & intercultural harmony, peace, justice and protection of minorities rights. Pakistan Council for Social Welfare & Human Rights (PCSW&HR) Chairman Muhammad Ijaz Noori announced today in a ceremony where he open this award and also hold a press conference regarding this great achievement by PCSW&HR. More than 400 organizations from 70 UN members’ states were part of the award selection process, and an international panel of experts made the final selection for the 20 award winner organizations. On Friday afternoon while speaking during the press conference at PCSW&HR secretariat Mr. Noori said that the award recognizes PCSW&HR’s “work and achievements in the promotion of intercultural understanding and cooperation at grass root level through the use of innovative methods and tools in the project “Community Empowerment on Peace Education, Interfaith & Intercultural Harmony and Religious Tolerance” Chairman Muhammad Ijaz Noori attributed the award to the efforts of the organization’s of executives and staff, and the technical support and feedback of “friends and peace lovers. He said that the award is dedicated to the entire Pakistani Nation, Civil & Armed forces and all people martyred during the fight against terrorism and extremism here in Pakistan and at global level. Along with the award, PCSW&HR now becomes a member of the World Intercultural Facility of Innovation (WIFI), a special program developed by the UNAOC and BMW to “connect inspiring grassroots projects with media, donors, governments and other partners in order to help them in scaling up, replicating and achieving a broader and greater impact.” The award competition, now in its second year, seeks to “acknowledge brave initiatives that dare to think outside the box, rethinking intercultural work and making an important use of new methods to promote intercultural understanding and cooperation. The Award represents a unique platform for civil society organizations committed to the promotion of cultural diversity and understanding, but now this award has been awarded to Pakistan first in South Asia history and we have great honor to be a first county in South Asia which received this award. Mr. Noori further said that PCSW&HR’s web site and project descriptions will now be available at the WIFI website at http://interculturalinnovation.org/pakistan-council-for-social-welfare-human-rights/. He also said that the project theme is to empower the community, which has reflected the wide diversity of our societies in Pakistan including Muslims, Christian, Hindus, and Sikh etc on Peace Education, Interfaith & Intercultural Harmony and Religious Tolerance. Capacity building and Training of youth groups, civil societies on the issues of promotion of interfaith harmony, religious tolerance, conflict prevention, identification of local problems and their solutions, utilization of local available resources, local fund raising, mutual trust, confidence building, eradication of religious and sectarian extremism. Highlights and sanitize the media and community through workshops to promote the interfaith and intercultural harmony, conflict resolving at grass roots.” Meanwhile the British High Commissioner to Pakistan Mr. Adam Thomson and Permanent Representative of Pakistan at United Nation have presented their congratulation to PCSW&HR for this great achievement and said that this is a good boost to uplift the Pakistani image at global level.