H.H. SHAIKH KHALIFA BIN SALMAN AL KHALIFA HABITAT
AWARD
Concept Paper
A. INTRODUCTION
In 2007, H.H. Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of
Bahrain, received the Special Citation of the Habitat Scroll of Honour in
recognition of his visionary leadership in effectively pursuing the Millennium
Development Goals. Through participatory governance, the Kingdom of
Bahrain has been able to reduce poverty and to bring about social justice
through socially inclusive housing policy, housing finance systems and good
urban governance.
In order to promote the ideals and principles of good governance in the context
of housing and urban development with a focus on equity, H.H. Shaikh Khalifa
Bin Salman Al Khalifa has decided to establish, jointly with UN-HABITAT, the
Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman AI Khalifa Habitat Award (hereinafter referred to as
the Award).
B. THE AWARD
The Award consists of US$ 100,000 cash prize, every two years, including a
trophy, a certificate, and travel and accommodation for the winner to attend the
Award ceremony.
The Award is conferred biennially on the occasion of the World Urban Forum, a
global meeting convened by UN-HABITAT on behalf of the United Nations
General Assembly. The purpose of the Award is to:
a) Recognize outstanding efforts by individuals, organizations and
institutions in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and the
attainment of human settlements related Millennium Development
Goals;
b) Promote international and South-South cooperation through the
exchange and transfer of lessons learned from experience.
B. THEMATIC FOCUS
The thematic focus of the Award will be on policies, practices, ideas and
concepts that have proven effective in:
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• Urban poverty reduction including job creation and local economic
development;
• Development of innovative affordable housing supply systems including
slum improvement, slum prevention, access to land, housing finance, real
estate management and basic services;
• Urban environmental management including climate change mitigation
and adaptation;
• Urban governance including de-centralization and the strengthening of
local authorities;
• Gender equality and social inclusion including economic empowerment of
women and the youth and their universal access to water, sanitation,
health, education and political participation;
• Effective public-private partnerships in urban development with a focus
on poverty reduction.
C. PROPOSED PROCEDURES
The proposed procedures for the Award are:
Step 1: Announcing the Award
UN-HABITAT and the H.H. Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa
Foundation (KSF) will announce each Award cycle beginning 12 months
before the submission deadline, and at regular intervals running up to the
submission deadline.
UN-HABITAT will focus its efforts on its global network of Habitat Agenda
partners, including UN agencies, other international organizations,
international financial institutions, civil society organizations and the private
sector.
The KSF will promote awareness of the Award through a concerted public
relations and global advertising campaign, including the printing and
distribution of submission guidelines in all 6 UN official languages.
Step 2: Initial identification and pre-selection of potential winners by the
Executive Committee (EXCO) and (KSF):
The EXCO and KSF will establish an internal committee to review and
screen all submissions and prepare a short-list of qualifying initiatives for
consideration by a jury. This includes, where necessary, the request for
additional information, as well as written briefs for the jury.
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Step3: Appointment of an independent jury:
Based on the thematic and geographical distribution of submissions, an
independent jury made up of 5 to 7 experts will be convened by the KSF. The
Chairperson of the Jury will be appointed by the Executive Director of UNHABITAT in consultation with the KSF. His/her tenure could be renewed as
long as there is agreement between UN-HABITAT and the KSF. Other jury
members could serve for a maximum of two consecutive Award cycles. The
independent jury will add transparency and credibility to the selection
procedure, and give the Award its desired status and esteem. Jury members
will be regionally and gender balanced.
Step 4: Selection of the winner by Jury:
The jury will meet for up to 3 days in Bahrain. The jury will report on its
deliberations and its final decision to the Executive Director of UNHABITAT and to the KSF, upon which the Chairman of the jury will report
the outcome directly to the media, after obtaining the blessing of H.H. Shaikh
Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa.
The winner will be directly informed by UN-HABITAT and the result will
also be announced on UN-HABITAT's website as well as by the KSF.
Step 5: Award ceremony:
An Award ceremony will be organized jointly by UN-HABITAT and the
KSF on the occasion of the World Urban Forum. The World Urban Forum is
an official, non-legislative United Nations meeting. It is the pre-eminent
gathering of governments, local authorities, non-governmental and civil
society organizations dedicated to urban issues. It meets on even years to
advance the implementation of the Habitat Agenda and the human
settlements related Millennium Development Goals.
In order to advance the learning objective of the Award, UN-HABITAT will
help the award winning initiative in preparing its presentation to the audience
of the World Urban Forum and to the media. The aim is to encourage other
countries to learn from and emulate successful experiences.
D. ELIGIBILITY
Any Habitat Agenda partner can apply or be nominated for the Award. Such
eligible partners include:
a) Individuals.
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b) Inter-governmental organizations
bilateral aid agencies.
or
agencies,
including
c) Cities, local authorities and their associations.
d) Civil society organizations and networks.
e) The private sector.
f) National Habitat committees or focal points.
g) Research and academic institutions.
h) Public or private foundations and enterprises.
i) Multilateral agencies (United Nations, International Financial
Institutions, etc.)
j) The media.
E. SUBMISSIONS AND SUBMISSION FORMAT
Both self submissions and nominations by third parties are permissible.
Candidates for the Award should submit details of their achievements in
electronic form. Submissions should not exceed 10 pages but there is no
limitation on supporting material that can be attached as annexes. All
submissions should use the submission format contained in Annex 1.
F. CRITERIA
The criteria for pre-selection of submissions by the EXCO and KSF include:
Impact: Submissions for the Award should demonstrate a positive, tangible and
sustained impact on improving the living environment of people, particularly
the poor and disadvantaged. Emphasis will be placed on:
a) Pro-poor housing and community development:
i. Extension of safe water supply and sanitation;
ii. Affordable housing, services and community facilities;
iii. Access to land, secure tenure and finance;
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iv.
v.
Community based-planning and participation in decisionmaking;
Inner-city/neighbourhood revival and rehabilitation;
b) Sustainable Urban Development:
i. Job creation and eradication of poverty;
ii. Reduction of pollution and improvement of environmental
health;
iii. Improved access to public transport, mobility and
communication;
iv. Improved waste collection, recycling and reuse;
v. Greening of the city and effective use of public space;
vi. More efficient energy use and production;
vii. Formulation and implementation of integrated and
comprehensive urban development strategies;
viii. Improved disaster preparedness, mitigation and reconstruction.
c) Efficient, Accountable and Transparent Settlements Management:
i. More effective and efficient administrative, management and
information systems;
ii. Gender equality and equity in decision-making and resourceallocation;
iii. Crime reduction and prevention;
iv. Social integration and reduction of exclusion;
v. Promotion of accountability and transparency;
vi. Promotion of social equality and equity;
vii. Improvement co-ordination between government agencies and
departments.
Sustainability: Best practices should result in lasting changes in at least one
of the areas listed below:
i.
ii.
iii.
Legislation, regulatory frameworks, by-laws or standards formally
recognizing the issues and problems that have been addressed;
Social policies and/or sectoral strategies at the (sub) national level that
have a potential for replication elsewhere;
Institutional frameworks and decision-making processes that assign
clear roles and responsibilities to various levels and groups of actors,
such as central and local governmental organizations and
community-based organizations;
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iv.
Efficient, transparent and accountable management systems that
make more effective use of human, technical, financial and natural
resources.
Additional criteria and considerations to be used by the jury for the final
selection of the award-winning submission include:
Leadership & Community Empowerment:
i. Leadership in inspiring action and change, including change in
public policy;
ii. Empowerment of people, neighbourhoods and communities;
iii. Acceptance of and responsiveness to social and cultural diversity;
iv. Potential for transferability, adaptability and
replicability;
v. Appropriateness to local conditions and levels of developments.
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion: Initiatives which accept and respond to
social and cultural diversity; promote social equality and equity, for example on
the basis of income, gender, age and physical! mental condition; and recognize
and value different abilities.
Innovation within local context and transferability: How others have learnt or
benefited from the initiative and the means used for sharing or transferring
knowledge, expertise and lessons learnt, including:
I. Tangible impact resulting from the transfer of one or more of the
following: ideas, skills, processes and technology;
ii. Changes in policies or practices;
iii. Sustainability of the transfer as part of a continuous process of
learning.
G. POST-AWARD ACTIVITIES
Award winners will commit themselves to playing an active role in
disseminating information on lessons learned through ad hoc documentation,
including, where feasible, a website, and in participating in workshops,
exchanges, conferences and seminars organized by UN-HABITAT or SKF.
Award winners are expected to participate in such exchanges on a pro-bono
basis while any direct costs associated with travel and/or accommodation will be
borne by the organizers.
H. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE AWARD SECRETARIAT
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UN-HABITAT and KSF will each nominate two senior officials to form an
Executive Committee for the Award. The Executive Committee will be
responsible for, inter alia:
(a) Setting the policies and procedures of the Award based on experiences
from previous
cycles;
(b) Approving the list for consideration by the jury;
(c) Proposing members of the jury to the Executive Director of UNHABITAT;
(d) Integrating lessons learned for the award winning initiatives in official
reports, websites and ad hoc publications
The KSF will establish a full working Award secretariat in time for the 2010
Award and subsequent Awards.
I. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT FOR THE 1st CYCLE IN 2008.
The 4th World Urban Forum to be held in October 2008 in Nanjing, China will
be the occasion for launching the first Award and presenting the First Award to
the winner.
For this first Award, given time constraints for the above process, UNHABITAT will prepare a short list for the Jury based on existing sources of
information, namely updated qualifying submissions derived from the existing
Best Practices database, Habitat Scroll of Winner applications, and other
sources of information.
Time Line for the 2008 Award
The time line for 2008 Award will be as follows:
By 31 January 2008:
• Finalize costing and administrative details
• Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
• SKF to disburse funds for the 2008 Award to UN-HABITAT
• Select members for Executive Committee
• Finalize selection criteria
• Agree on all of the above with KSF
By 28 February 2008:
• First meeting of Executive Committee.
• Identify and approach potential Jury Members to be nominated by UNHABITAT and approved by KSF.
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By 31 March 2008:
• Launch of Award - call for updated submissions from existing UNHABITAT databases
By April to June 2008:
• Receipt and review of submissions.
• Validation, request for additional information, clarification.
• Arriving at a list provided by UN-HABITAT.
• Preparation of materials for the Jury.
By 20 June 2008:
• Meeting of the Executive Committee just prior to the meeting of the Jury.
• Meeting of the Jury and final selection.
• Notification and announcement of the winner.
By September 2008:
• Preparation of winner for Nanjing - substantive and logistical
By 13 -17 October 2008:
• Award presentation and ceremony in Nanjing.
Budget for the 2008 Award Process:
Activity Output
Award
Prize
Servicing
costs (KSF contributions for UN-
Costs
$ 100,000
Total Cost
$ 100,000
HABITAT for participation in EXCO
$ 12,000
Call for updated submissions
Validation of submissions upplies/Administrative
Preparation
of materials for the Jury Jurybmissions
costs
General and administration
S-Total
Grand Total
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Deadline for receipt, 31 May 2008
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$ 6,000
$ 18,000
$ 24,000
$ 6,000
$66,000
$ 66,000
$ 166,000
Annex I
Submission Format for the
Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman AI Khalifa Habitat Award
1. Background
Substantive information about the organization or individual being nominated
including their mission, goals, history, size, and previous experience.
2. Description of the initiative or project
Situation or problem addressed, objectives and strategy, target beneficiaries,
investment in terms of human, material and financial resources, activities
undertaken, duration of the initiative, achievements and outcomes, and lessons
learned.
3. Main partners
List of partners, including names and addresses, their roles and levels of
participation in the planning, design, implementation, and funding of the
initiative.
4. Impact
Estimated number of beneficiaries, types of beneficiaries (e.g. women, children,
the poor, victims of natural or human-made disasters), impact on beneficiaries'
living conditions (e.g. social, economic, environmental, health, education,
employment, security of tenure, crime reduction, community involvement in
decisions/ governance, etc.) Provide quantitative and qualitative indicators of
impact.
5. Sustainability
Description of how the initiative has created lasting change (e.g. enactment of
new legislation or policy, capacity building, community empowerment,
institutional frameworks, enhanced efficiency, accountability and transparency,
etc.). Indicate how long the positive impact has been sustained. If there is
ongoing investment to maintain the positive results, give details of how this is
secured, and its commercial and social sustainability.
6. Transferability and up-scaling
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Indication of whether the initiative has been replicated in part or in whole and
how this was done.
7. Innovation
Describe the main innovative aspects of the initiative for example, in the use of
new technology, new working methods, or lessons learned from other
initiatives/practices.
8. Recognition of the initiative
List of references, articles, publications, media reports about the initiative
starting with the most recent ones and where possible, attach copies of the
actual articles as an annex.
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