THE STATUTE OF
AGFUND INTERNATIONAL PRIZE
FOR PIONEERING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Article I; Name of the Statute:

This Statute shall be termed “The Statute of AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Human Development Projects”.

Article II; Definitions and Significance:

AGFUND: Arab Gulf Programme for Development.
The Prize: The AGFUND Prize.
The Statute: AGFUND Prize Statute.
The Bylaws: The bylaws of AGFUND Prize.
The President: The President of AGFUND Administrative Board.
The Prize Committee: A committee chaired by the President of AGFUND, in charge of supervising the award of the Prize.

Article III; Objectives of the Prize:

AGFUND Prize was established to recognize and reward the success in implementation of pioneering and innovative projects in the field of sustainable human development and encourage their dissemination and publicity. The Prize aims to:

1. Support the distinguished efforts aiming at developing and promoting the concepts and dimensions of human development.
2. Disseminate and circulate the successful development experiences.
3. Highlight the best practices in development to improve the living conditions of the poor and the disadvantaged with particular emphasis on women and children.
4. Enhance the exchange of experiences and develop better mechanisms to find solutions to the problems of poverty, marginalization and socioeconomic exclusion of vulnerable groups.

Article IV; Supervision of the Prize:

The Prize is supervised by a special Committee, called (The International Committee of AGFUND Prize) chaired by the President of AGFUND, who selects its members. The Prize bylaws specify the number of its members and the conditions of their selection as well as their functions, which shall be as follows:

1. Determine the method under which the amounts of the Prize shall be distributed to each of its categories in every year.
2. Selection of the annual subjects of the Prize.
3. Selection of the winning projects in different categories of the Prize.
4. Selection of the evaluators.

Article V; Categories of the Prize:

AGFUND Prize is consisted of four categories as follows:

First Category: Projects that are funded, designed and implemented by UN agencies or international and regional NGOs.

Second Category: Projects that are funded, designed and implemented by national NGOs.

Third Category: Projects that are funded, designed and implemented by national government agencies.

Fourth Category: Projects that are funded, designed and implemented by individuals.

Article VI; Award and Withholding of the Prize:

1. The Prize shall be awarded annually to the approved by the Committee as winners of the Prize.
2. The Prize may be withheld if the nominated projects have not fulfilled its award conditions or in case the Prize Committee decided, based on the evaluation results or the evaluators’ recommendations, that these projects, all or some of them are not of a standard sufficient to qualify them to win the Prize.

Article VII; Nomination for the prize:

Nomination for the Prize shall be made by UN organizations, regional, international and national non-governmental organizations active in the fields of sustainable human development and by governments agencies, public institutions, universities and research centres and syndicates.

Each of the following is considered qualified to be nominated for the Prize:

1. UN development organizations, international or regional NGOs.
2. National non-governmental organizations.
3. Governmental agencies and Public institutions.
4. Individuals who have contributed to the initiation, funding and/or implementation of a pioneering human development Project.

Article VIII; Evaluation of Nominations:

1. Nominations shall be evaluated by evaluators specializing in the annual subjects of the Prize.
2. Evaluators shall be of high experience in the fields of the Prize.
3. Evaluation of nominations shall, as specified in the Bylaws, be undertaken in accordance with a set of criteria applicable to all category of the Prize.
4. The Evaluation process shall be undertaken in a strictly confidential manner.

Article IX; Announcement of the Prize:

The subjects of the Prize and the relevant nomination conditions and prerequisites shall be publicized in the proper media.

Article X; Budget of the Prize:

1. The annual budget of the Prize shall be US $ 500,000 (Five hundred thousand Dollars), and shall, at the discretion of the Prize Committee, be subdivided and distributed to the Prize four categories.
2. The Prize for each category shall consist of a financial reward designated to support the winners in the implementation of their pioneering projects, and of a certificate of recognition signed by the Chairman of the Prize Committee, showing the name and a brief abstract of the winning projects.

Article XI; Financing of the Prize:

1. The Prize shall be financed from AGFUND resources.
2. The funds allocated for the Prize may be invested for the purpose of making the Prize self-financing.
3. Subventions and donations may be received on the approval of the Chairman of the Committee.

Article XII; Announcement of the Winning Projects:

AGFUND shall announce the winning projects, as approved by the Prize Committee, at a date at least one month before the date of the award ceremony.

Article XIII; Award of the Prize:

1. The Prize shall be awarded annually in a ceremony, to which representatives of the winning projects, experts and specialists in the field of development and prominent world personalities interested in development issues are invited.
2. The award ceremony of the Prize shall be organized under the auspices of the President of AGFUND, or his representative.

Article XIV; Final Dispositions:

1. The present Statute shall enter into force on the date of endorsement by the AGFUND Administrative Board.
2. The AGFUND Administrative Board shall have the right to interpret this Statute.
3. The President shall release the Bylaws for implementing this Statute.