Theme of the 1997 ESCAP HRD Award

Urbanization has a been a distinctive feature of development in Asia and the Pacific. In the last ten years, the growth of cities and megacities in Asia and the Pacific has been faster than in any other region. New ways have to be sought to be able to address the needs of the millions of urban poor, particularly in meeting their basic requirements for adequate shelter, education, health care and employment.

At the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in June 1996 at Istanbul, the principles of democratization, decentralization and the emphasis on local governance were recognized as basic concepts to guide governments in fulfilling their

Many initiatives in that spirit of empowerment have been taken in Asia and the Pacific, both at the grassroots level, and in collaboration with local authorities, NGOs and the private sector. The 1997 ESCAP HRD Award aims to recognize those initiatives.

Criteria for selection of the Award winner were:

• Degree of HRD commitment;
• Responsiveness to the needs of the target group;
• Innovativeness of the approach;
• Impact;
• Sustainability of the activity

The Award-winner will receive a prize of US$ 25,000. Of that sum, US$ 10,000 will be in the form of cash and the remaining US$ 15,000 will be a grant in support of further HRD work to empower the urban poor. The 1997 HRD Award has been made possible through the financial support of the Government of the Republic of Korea.

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