Nominations open for UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award

The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award recognizes individuals and institutions that have made outstanding contributions in the field of urban development, including improvement of the quality of urban life and provision of adequate, affordable, and accessible housing for all.

Areas of Achievement

• In selecting the winners for the award, the Selection Committee will look at best practice initiatives and achievements related to SDG 11, which consists of 10 targets and 15 related indicators. In addition, particular attention will be given to achievements related to the World Habitat Day theme of “Engaging youth to create a better urban future”.
• The world is rapidly urbanizing, and many urban residents are nowadays young people, especially in some countries of Africa and Asia. World Habitat Day 2024 will focus on how the world can engage the new generation in planning their urban present and future through participatory processes and local leadership opportunities.
• Through the 2024 World Habitat Day theme, UN-Habitat aims to foster the discussion on local actions to accelerate implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, the 2030 Agenda, and the national climate targets under the Paris Agreement.

Targets 

• SDG Target 11.1 By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe, and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums.
  • 11.1.1 Proportion of urban population living in slums, informal settlements, or inadequate housing.
• SDG Target 11.2 By 2030, provide access to safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women, children, persons with disabilities and older persons.
  • 11.2.1 Proportion of population that has convenient access to public transport, by sex, age, and persons with disabilities.
• SDG Target 11.3 By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated, and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries.
  • 11.3.1 Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate.
  • 11.3.2 Proportion of cities with a direct participation structure of civil society in urban planning and management that operate regularly and democratically.
• SDG Target 11.4 Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage.
  • 11.4.1 Total expenditure (public and private) per capita spent on the preservation, protection, and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by type of heritage (cultural, natural, mixed and World Heritage Centre designation), level of government (national, regional and local/municipal), type of expenditure (operating expenditure/ investment) and type of private funding (donations in kind, private non-profit sector, and sponsorship).
• SDG Target 11.5 By 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations.
  • 11.5.1 Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population.
  • 11.5.2 Direct disaster economic loss in relation to global GDP, damage to critical infrastructure and number of disruptions to basic services, attributed to disasters.
• SDG Target 11.6 By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management.
  • 11.6.1 Proportion of urban solid waste regularly collected and with adequate final discharge out of total urban solid waste generated, by cities.
  • 11.6.2 Annual mean levels of fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5 and PM10) in cities (population weighted).
• SDG Target 11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive, and accessible, green, and public spaces, for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
  • 11.7.1 Average share of the built-up area of cities that is open space for public use for all, by sex, age, and persons with disabilities.
  • 11.7.2 Proportion of persons victim of physical or sexual harassment, by sex, age, disability status and place of occurrence, in the previous 12 months.
• SDG Target 11.a Support positive economic, social, and environmental links between urban, peri-urban, and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning.
  • 11.a.1 Proportion of population living in cities that implement urban and regional development plans integrating population projections and resource needs, by size of city.
• SDG Target 11.b By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels.
  • 11.b.1 Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.
  • 11.b.2 Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies.
• SDG Target 11.c Support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials.
  • 11. c.1 Proportion of financial support to the least developed countries that is allocated to the construction and retrofitting of sustainable, resilient, and resource-efficient buildings utilizing local materials.

Eligibility Criteria

• Individuals and organizations working on sustainable urban projects that have had a great impact on society can be nominated for the UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour.
• These include:
  • Government and intergovernmental organizations or agencies, including bilateral aid agencies
  • Local and regional governments 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.)
  • Media
  • Individuals
• Nominations must come from a third party. A government may nominate a programme of a ministry or an institute. An institute may nominate another institute or entity such as an NGO or an individual. The head of a university may nominate a professor from a different university or an institute. A government may nominate a city or an individual. A city may nominate a government representative, programme, project, university, or NGO. An individual may nominate an institution or programme as long as the individual is not employed nor affiliated in any way by the institution or project.

Terms and Conditions

• The prize for the winning entry will be awarded to the person or organization named in the submission form but can also be received on their behalf by an officially appointed representative.
• All entries will be available for international exhibition, demonstration, publication, and media coverage, and UNHabitat will not be required to seek further permission for any such use.
• Supporting materials as part of the online submission such as media articles (URL), videos (URL) and photographs (JPEG) are highly welcome.
• Submissions in another language than English will be disqualified.
• All attachments are also to be submitted online in English.
• Submissions are to be sent via the online web form only.

Selection Process

• UN-Habitat will make an initial assessment of the nominations and submissions and verify that the submission conforms to the standards outlined in the guidelines. Qualifying submissions will be sent to the Selection Committee comprising UN-Habitat experts and senior management.
• The Selection Committee will make their recommendations for winning entries which will be endorsed by a panel of experts and senior leaders. Thereafter, the Executive Director will make the final selection of a maximum of five UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour winners.
• The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour nominees will be notified from 15 July 2024 onwards of the outcome. The winners will receive their awards during the Global Observance of World Habitat Day on 7 October 2024.

For more information, visit UN-Habitat.