UN-Habitat announces Scroll of Honour call for applications

The United Nations Habitat has released the guidelines for submission of nominations for the 2012 ‘Scroll of Honour’.

The Habitat Scroll of Honour award was launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1989. It is currently the most prestigious human settlements award in the world. Its aim is to acknowledge initiatives which have made outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision, highlighting the plight of the homeless, leadership in post conflict reconstruction, and developing and improving the human settlements and the quality of urban life.

In previous years, we have received submissions describing an array of impressive initiatives to improve shelter and urban services.

Eligibility

Individuals, organizations, projects and any Habitat Agenda partner can be nominated for the Habitat Scroll of Honour. These include:

• Government and inter-governmental organizations or agencies, including bilateral aid agencies
• Cities, local authorities or their associations
• Civil society organizations
• The private sector
• National Habitat Committees or focal points
• Research and academic institutions
• Public or private foundations
• Multilateral agencies (United Nations Agencies, World Bank, etc.)
• The media
• Individuals

The deadline for submitting entries to the Habitat Scroll of Honour 2012 is 6 August 2012.

The award, a plaque engraved with the name of the winner and their achievement will be presented to the winners during e WUF6 closing ceremony on 6 September 2012.

The Selection process

The selection process will consist of three steps:

1. The World Habitat Day Coordinator will make an initial assessment of the nominations and submissions and verify that they conform to the standards outlined in the submission guidelines. Qualifying submissions will be sent to the jury.

2. A jury of experts on human settlements and urban development and the World Habitat Day theme for 2012, Changing Cities, Building Opportunities, will be constituted to select a maximum of five winning initiatives. The jury will make their recommendations to the UN-Habitat Executive Director outlining their reasons for the selection.

3. UN-Habitat’s Executive Director, based on the recommendations of the independent jury, will make the final selection of the UN-Habitat

Scroll of Honour winners.

Areas of achievement

In selecting the winners for the award, the jury will be looking for achievements in the key areas outlined in the table below. The achievements will be considered within the overall context of sustainable human settlements and urban development.

This year, the jury will give particular attention to achievements related to this year’s theme of Changing Cities, Building Opportunities, and especially

those pertaining to Urban Land and Legislation & Governance, Urban Planning & Design, Urban Economy, Urban Basic Services, Housing & Slum Upgrading, Risk Reduction & Rehabilitation, and Urban Research & Capacity Development.

To nominate an organization, individual or project for this year’s award you can do one of the following:

• Fill in the online nomination form on the website at http://www.unhabitat.org/whd

• Download the form on the website at www.unhabitat.org/whd and email it to whd@unhabitat.org, or

• Complete the nomination form on below, and send it to: World Habitat Day Coordinator, Advocacy, Outreach and Communications,

P.O Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya; Fax: +254 20 762 3477

By: Samuel Mantey

Property Express

Email: sammyoo3@yahoo.com