The 15th of October, 2009 has been marked as the launching of the call for the King Baudouin International Development Prize offered by the King Baudouin Foundation to organizations or individuals once in two years in recognition of their efforts made towards “sustainable improvement of living conditions in developing countries.” “True to the personality and values which inspired its creation, the aim of the King Baudouin International Development Prize is to acknowledge the work of persons or organisations which have made a substantial contribution to the development of countries in the southern hemisphere or to solidarity between industrialised nations and developing nations.” Individuals or organizations working in any field contributing to the sustainable development in developing countries can participate in the award competition. Winners can be working in the field of literacy, rural education, technology transfer, microfinance, microenterprise, human rights, fair trade etc.
The Prize has a financial value of 150,000 Euros in addition to the international recognition and visibility provided to the award winning organization or individual. An Independent Selection Committee reviews the applications and makes the final recommendation for the award to the Board of Governors of the King Baudouin Foundation. Individuals andorganizations that have implementing “innovative and exemplary initiatives which give the local population the opportunity to take their development into their own hands, and are capable of being duplicated elsewhere in the world” are recommended for the award. The Committee shortlists 4-5 candidates for the award during the first phase of selection. In the final phase, a delegation visits the shortlisted candidates to make the final decision.
It is important that the candidates get themselves nominated for the Prize. Nominations can be submitted online. However, a pdf version of the nomination form is also available for download. It can be used to familiarize oneself with the form before filling it online. The deadline for submitting the nominations for this Prize is 1 February 2010. For more information, visit this link at the Foundation’s website or the exclusive website on the Prize at this link.
