Established in 2008, the Zayed Sustainability Prize is the UAE’s pioneering global award for recognising excellence in sustainability. The Prize honours humanitarianism and commitment to sustainability, by awarding non-profit organisation, small and medium sized enterprises and high schools for their sustainable solutions across the categories of Health, Food, Energy, Water and Global High Schools. The deadline to submit your project is 6th July 2022.
Over the past 14 years, the Prize has awarded 96 winners who have positively impacted the lives of over 370 million people around the world by accelerating sustainable development through their impactful, innovative and inspiring solutions.
THE CATEGORIES AND CRITERIA:
The total Prize fund of US $3 million is distributed amongst five categories:
- Health – US$ 600,000
- Food – US$ 600,000
- Energy – US$ 600,000
- Water – US$ 600,000
- Global High Schools* – US$ 600,000
*The Global High Schools category awards six schools from six world regions up to US $100,000 each.
Those regions are Europe, the Americas, Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia & Pacific.
The categories are evaluated based on three criteria:
Innovation: Innovation refers to a novel solution or a transformation of an existing solution that solves a challenge or a need, generates value and brings significant positive impact.
A solution can be a technology, a service or a business model.
Organisation’s must demonstrate that their solution:
- has a unique value proposition;
- is disruptive or transformative;
- is technically and commercially viable; and
- is adopted by the market.
The Prize does not award early stage start-ups, inventions, prototypes or solutions that have not demonstrated any impact on the ground.
Impact: Impact refers to a positive change that addresses social, economic, technological and/or environmental challenge(s) and has proven to make the world a better place by improving the well-being of humanity.
Organisations must demonstrate that:
- their solution already has had a positive impact on the quality of peoples’ lives.
- they are resilient to potential social, economic, technological, and environmental challenges.
- they have good governance by employing skilled people and establishing fair policies.
- they have a detailed plan of how the Prize money would be used to further increase their impact.
Inspiration: Leading by example, Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the UAE, placed great value on the pursuit of socio-economic development that meets the needs of both current and future generations.
Organisations must demonstrate that their solution:
- reflects Sheikh Zayed’s core values, sustainability and human development, which were central to his own approach and actions.
- can inspire and influence others to advance sustainable and human development; and
- can further inspire sustainable actions from the wider community by instigating behavioral changes.
HEALTH
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability solutions in the areas of health that include, but are not limited to:
- Ensuring access to essential and affordable healthcare
- Ensuring access to maternal and new-born healthcare – Ending epidemics (AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis etc.)
- Preventing and treating water-borne, communicable and non-communicable diseases
- Reducing illness from pollution, hazardous chemicals and contamination
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human development.
FOOD
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability solutions in the areas of food that include, but are not limited to:
- Decreasing hunger and malnutrition
- Increasing agricultural or other food processing productivity
- Enhancing sustainable food production
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human development.
ENERGY
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability solutions in the areas of energy that include, but are not limited to:
- Ensuring access to affordable and reliable clean energy
- Increasing production of clean energy
- Improving energy efficiency
- Introducing new forms of clean energy or other technology innovations
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human development.
WATER
This category recognises organisations that have demonstrated innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability solutions in the areas of water that include, but are not limited to:
- Ensuring access to safe and affordable drinking water
- Ensuring access to sanitation and hygiene
- Increasing water use efficiency – Improving water quality
Organisations must also demonstrate a clear vision and long-term plan to further deploy their solution and scale up their impact, as well as inspiring others to follow suit by advancing sustainable and human development.
GLOBAL HIGH SCHOOLS
The Global High Schools category recognises high schools or secondary schools, from six global geographic regions that propose innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability projects in the areas of health, food, energy and/or water.
The proposed project could be in one area (e.g., water) or a combination of areas (e.g., energy, water, food, and health).
The Prize is intended to encourage students to develop and implement their sustainability ideas and is not aimed at administrative projects or educational reforms at the school.
The award in this category is not given for past achievements but will enable students from winning high schools to implement sustainability projects in their own schools.
These student-led projects must demonstrate innovative approaches to address sustainability challenges and inspire students to take active roles in sustainable development.
The application must be submitted by the students and supported by the school management and the projects must:
- Demonstrate how they meet the three criteria: impact, innovation, inspiration
- Be able to be implemented and operational within one to two years
- Benefit the school community and/or their local/regional community for several years
For more information and how to submit an entry, please visit the website: www.ZayedSustainabilityPrize.com
You can also make enquires about the Prize to: supportzsp@sherlockcomms.com