Professor Anna Tibaijuka becomes first African woman to win Prince Khalifa Sustainable Dev

Former Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlement Programme, UN HABITAT, Professor Anna Tibaijuka has been awarded the ‘His Royal Highness H.R.H Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Award for Sustainable Development,’ becoming the first woman to receive the award now in its third anniversary.

The award is given to individuals or institutions who are actively involved in actualizing the Sustainable Development Goals and is meant to motivate them to commit extra efforts at national, regional and international levels to achieve the award’s noble humanitarian goals.

Professor Tibaijuka was selected in recognition of her role and contribution, through the posts she has held previously, that have advanced sustainable urban development, in addition to efforts she has championed in consolidating cooperation among various countries across the world, which have seen her recognized by governments, international and academic institutions.

These achievements tie 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.

“I thank Your Royal Highness for this recognition and promise that in return I shall continue to work hard in pursuit of the noble goals of the Award, namely, helping communities attain sustainable development,” said Professor Tibaijuka on receiving the news.

The award will be presented to Prof Tibaijuka during a ceremony to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on September 23rd  on the sidelines of the 71st UN General Assembly session, under the theme: “The Sustainable Development Goals: a universal push to transform our world”.

 Previous winners of the award include “The Green Brigade” Project in Burkina Faso in 2008 an initiative that has sought to improve the city environment while providing secure employment to a group of  more than 1200, majority of who are breadwinners, through cleaning of streets and public places.

In 2010, the Brazilian Bento Rubião Foundation’s “Right to Land and Right to Housing” programme in 2010 was recognized for its role in offering construction skills to residents especially women who have gone on to obtain formal employment in the construction industry.