Sharjah: The Dh500,000 Sharjah International Award for Refugee Advocacy and Support (SIARA) has announced the extension of the nomination submission deadline to November 15, 2020 for the 2021 edition.
Each year, award to is granted to an institution and individual working locally across Asia and Africa in recognition of their exceptional humanitarian contributions to alleviate the sufferings of refugees and vulnerable populations. The number of requests by humanitarian entities have prompted the organisers to extend the submissions’ deadline to enable more applicants to complete the formalities for the nomination procedure. All nominations for the award have to be submitted on the website of Sharjah-based global humanitarian charity The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), which organises the award in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Tangible benefits
The award money is a special contribution by TBHF and does not represent any share of the donations made to the foundation. TBHF’s evaluation of nominees is based on tangible benefits and sustainable impact of humanitarian interventions, scope of work, objectivity, and transparency in service delivery ideology. Innovative practices that boost overall sustainability of programmes and project activities, gender sensitivity in planning and implementation of projects, and demonstrable ability to address humanitarian gaps, especially in emergency situations, are some of the other criteria that are considered while finalising the winner of SIARA.
Last year, TBHF expanded the scope of the award to include the entire African continent which hosts a large per cent of the world’s 70.8 million forcibly displaced people.
