Manama: Tanzanian Professor Anna Tibaijuka, a former Undersecretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), has won the “His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development”.
The nomination, endorsed by Bahrain’s Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, was based on the recommendations and study submitted by the award’s team, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.
Tibaijuka, an ex-Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Developments in Tanzania, was nominated for the award in recognition of her achievements “that are compatible with the award’s objectives of achieving development projects by individuals and institutions and succeeding in providing creative solutions that contribute to achieving sustainable development”.
“She was also selected as the laureate in recognition of her role and contributions, through the posts she has held, to achieving urban and sustainable development, in addition to the efforts she has exerted in consolidating cooperation among various countries across the world, which entitled her to receive awards and appreciation certificates from government and international and academic agencies,” the report said.
The award will be presented during a ceremony to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly session, under the theme: “The Sustainable Development Goals: A universal push to transform our world”.
The “His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development” was announced in Geneva in July 2007 during a ceremony in which the UN-Habitat bestowed the 2006 Scroll of Honour Award in Urban Development and Housing on the Bahrain prime minister.
The inaugural winner of the award was “The Green Brigade” Project in Burkina Faso in 2008, while the second was the Brazilian Bento Rubião Foundation’s “Right to Land and Right to Housing” programme in 2010.
“The new edition of the award has adopted new criteria that are consistent with the Prime Minister’s vision to achieve sustainable development. They are also compatible with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 adopted by world leaders in September 2015 during the historic UN Sustainable Development Summit 2015 in New York City,” the report said.
The standards of his award focus on dealing actively with the UN sustainable development goals 2030, including the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.
“Through the award, the Prime Minister seeks to encourage all individual and collective initiatives aimed at achieving the aspirations for sustainable urban development. The award sets the global bases for those interested in sustainable development, and encourages them in a way that ensures the sustainability of development,” the report said.
“The award also embodies Prince Khalifa’s global vision regarding the need to achieve sustainable urban development, and promote the development culture among all communities, especially in developing countries. The vision is in line with his wish to support all international efforts aimed at improving living conditions worldwide. It also embodies his support to all global sustainable development initiatives.”
