Award Ceremony

Prizegiving ceremony :

The Prizegiving Ceremony of AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Development Projects (2002) was held Under the Patronage of HRH Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Prize committee and President of the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND), at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, Wednesday 18 December 2002, 11:30 a.m.

The ceremony was attended by a number of diplomats, people concerned with Development and media representatives.

Participants in the ceremony included the following:

• H. E. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura,Director-General, UNESCO, Paris.
• H.E. Dr. Y. Seyyid Abdulai, Member of AGFUND Prize Committee, Director-General, The OPEC Fund for International Development.
• Ms. Nancy Bearg, Representative of the winning project (First Category), President, Enterprise Works Worldwide, Washington, DC, USA
• Mr. Carson Harte, Representative of the winning project (Second Category), International Director, The Cambodia Trust,
• Mr. Charles Maisel, Representative of the winning project (Third Category), Founder and Programme Manager, The Men on the Side of the Road, South Africa,

Ceremony Programme

President Speech

President speech (French) :

Discours de Son Altesse Royale le Prince Talal ibnAbdul Aziz.

Au nom de Dieu le clément ,le miséricordieux.

Excellence ,monsieur Koïtchiro Matsura, Directeur général de l'UNESCO,

Excellences,

Mesdames ,messieurs,

Au moment où nous nous apprêtons à cueillir ensemble, les fruits du travail et des efforts effectués dans différentes régions du monde pour réaliser le développement humain tel que le reflètent les projets pilotes qui reçoivent le Prix de cette année, je tiens à exprimer toute mon estime et mes remerciements à monsieur Koïtchiro Matsura , Directeur général de l'UNESCO d'accueillir cette cérémonie au siège de l'Organisation.

Je suis d'autant plus heureux ,à l'occasion de cette manifestation, que l'UNESCO m'a fait l'honneur de me nommer comme « Envoyé spécial pour l'eau ».

Ce faisant, l'Organisation a touché ,en moi, une corde sensible car le problème des ressources en eau tient une place importante dans mes préoccupations personnelles et celles de l'AGFUND .C'est pour ces raisons que j'accepte cette mission ,avec gratitude , en espérant contribuer, par mes modestes efforts, à dégager les dimensions positives et à transcender les aspects négatifs dans cette question vitale. Je ne doute point que ma mission sera facilitée du fait que l'UNESCO cautionne ce travail important par l'expertise dont elle dispose et que notre travail commun aidera les pays à réaliser le développement durable.

Mesdames ,messieurs,

Certes, notre cérémonie est l'expression d'un certain bonheur. Cependant, l'image du monde est loin de nous inspirer un tel sentiment. Permettez-moi de vous donner lecture de la citation suivante: « Une fillette qui retourne chez elle…un soldat au seuil d'une nouvelle vie… Un village qui fleurit….ce sont –là les Nations-Unies ».

Cette citation qui figure, en exergue, sur le site internet des Nations-unies comme mot d'ordre de leur action ,a retenu mon attention de façon particulière .Les termes ont été choisi avec soin et originalité. Le sens qui s'en dégage est porteur des grandes espérances

qui emplissent nos esprits ,provoquent la parole et éveillent les volontés. C'est l'invitation à un avenir beau et radieux ,une image de lumière…

Mais à la vérité, le monde actuel a un goût d'amertume .Un monde où les pays en développement de manière particulière ,se débattent avec les difficultés. Ces pays où le spectre de la mort traque la fillette qui n'est pas retournée chez elle et qui n'y retournera pas…..Tout simplement ,sa maison ,détruite par la machine de guerre ,n'existe plus. Le soldat qui devait commencer une nouvelle vie est toujours mobilisé pour d'autres batailles et d'autres effusions de sang…..Dans cet obscur qui plane sur le monde, comment le village peut-il fleurir…pour qu'y vivent la fillette et le soldat de l'exergue des Nations-unies ?…

Mesdames , messieurs ,

Ce sombre nuage sur le monde se déploie de manière plus pressante dans le ciel du Moyen-orient où les peuples subissent les affres de vieux conflits interminables et de nouveaux qui viennent aggraver leurs souffrances.

Le conflit arabo-israélien qui dure depuis plus d'un quart de siècle au lieu de s'atténuer après les négociations marathoniennes et les nombreuses résolutions qui ne furent pas, pour la plupart suivies d'effet, semble ,au contraire, s'aggraver .Aujourd'hui, les jeunes générations palestiniennes sont en train de vivre une situation plus dramatique que celle des précédentes générations qui ont connu l'exil et la diaspora durant les guerres de 1948 et 1967 .

Et comme si elle en avait besoin , cette région est devenue le principal théâtre de la guerre anti-terroriste ,une guerre qui s'est transformée en outil pour mettre en coupe réglée le monde en général et le Moyen-orient en particulier . Le champs de cette guerre a été étendu pour englober des crises antérieures dont certaines étaient en voie de règlement avant qu'on en ravive ,de nouveau, la flamme ;comme ,par exemple la crise irakienne dont nous craignons qu'elle aboutisse à une guerre meurtrière qui viendrait ajouter d'autres souffrances à celles qui accablent ,déjà , les peuples de la région notamment le peuple irakien qui subit ,depuis douze années, un blocus qui embarrasse l'humanité.

Selon quelle logique peut-on faire supporter à un peuple soumis, qui ploie sous l'oppression, la responsabilité d'un régime dont il était et est toujours la première victime ?.

Mesdames ,messieurs,

Pour la majorité des gens et pour les faibles ,parmi eux ,qui en subissent davantage les conséquences, une guerre est une guerre. C'est une honte pour l'humanité d'être incapable d'y mettre un terme. Dans un Moyen-orient pris dans le tourbillon des menaces et des ultimatums, l'être humain est dépossédé de tous les éléments de la vie…

La guerre ,sans pitié lui arrache la vie et dans sa quête d'un lieu sur terre où il pourrait vivre sereinement ,le désespoir le pousse à choisir le ventre de la terre pour y trouver le sommeil…ce pourrait être un martyr…. Et le cercle de la violence continue de s'élargir sous le noir nuage menaçant qui refuse de se dissiper.

Tout ne reniant pas le fait que les problèmes des pays en développement sont persistants et complexes, et que les Nations-unies possèdent la capacité de faire , les peuples en attendent des actions concrètes.

Mesdames ,messieurs ,

L'AGFUND centre son intérêt ,depuis près d'un quart de siècle sur le développement humain car nous sommes convaincus que le développement de l'être humain est le moyen de le protéger contre les dangers de la guerre. Notre action vient en soutien des efforts des Nations –unies pour le maintien de la sécurité et la paix mondiales. De même, nous coopérons avec l'UNESCO dans sa quête inlassable qui interpelle l'esprit des hommes pour éliminer la guerre et les faire disparaître avant leur apparition étant donné « que les guerres naissent dans l'esprit des hommes, c'est dans l'esprit des hommes qu'il faut élever les défenses de la paix ».

Les efforts déployés par l'ensemble de la communauté s'avèrent presque vains au milieu de cette tourmente qui se manifeste ici et là. L'instabilité constitue une menace réelle à tout développement humain. Dans ce climat pesant, les créateurs sont dans l'incapacité de créer, les chercheurs de parvenir aux résultats de leurs recherches et l'homme ordinaire ne peut s'assurer contre un lendemain porteur d'aléas et d'incertitude.

C'est pourquoi ,et au nom de l'humanité, je m'adresse de la tribune de cette Organisation qui irradie le monde de la lumière de la culture et qui a appelé et appelle ,toujours au rejet de la guerre et de la destruction, je m'adresse aux décideurs dans le monde pour qu'ils saisissent l'occasion d'assurer la paix à tous les peuples du monde ,pour qu'ils ne laissent pas libre cours à ceux qui battent les tambours de la guerre. Car sous l'égide de la paix ,il est possible de trouver des solutions à à tous les problèmes fussent-ils complexes ou chroniques et pour que des peuples pacifiques ne soient pas condamnés à cause d'une minorité qui a l'illusion de détenir elle-seule ,la sagesse et qui a emprunté une voie sanglante que lui a inspiré son esprit brouillon et dans laquelle d'autres l'ont précipitée par leurs actes iniques.

Car le sentiment d'injustice engendre les idées extrémistes qui constituent un terreau favorable à des actes irresponsables comme nous l'avons ,tous ,constaté et qui nous ont menés vers l'impasse actuelle

Tout en étant ,tous ,contre le terrorisme sous toutes ses formes et dans toutes ses manifestations, nous nous prononçons ,avec la même force, contre le terrorisme des Etats et des gouvernements car ce dernier, encore plus affligeant et plus meurtrier ,engendre de nouveaux terrorismes que l'on instille dans le tissus social se transmet de génération en génération ,détruit les civilisations et emporte les valeurs.

Mesdames ,messieurs,

Partant de la vision que nous avons de la paix ,de la coopération internationales et de la coexistence entre les peuples sans distinction de religion ,de race ni même d'opinion politique ,l'AGFUND a crée un Prix international pour encourager l'esprit novateur dans des projets qui visent à préserver la dignité humaine , qui offrent à l'être humain la possibilité de développer ses capacités et ses compétences personnelles et stimulent sa participation positive au progrès de la société à laquelle il appartient.

Quatre années se sont écoulées depuis la création du Prix donnant ,ainsi ,la preuve de son succès .En effet tous les projets auxquels il a été décerné sont des projets pilotes visant à traiter des questions qui sont au centre du développement humain de leurs sociétés. Tout en se réjouissant de ces résultats, l'AGFUND ne pense pas se contenter de ce qui a été réalisé car notre objectif est de poursuivre ,avec assiduité,la recherche de projets nouveaux en faveur des sociétés dans l'espoir que nos aspirations pourront se réaliser à la l'occasion de la cinquième cérémonie de remise du Prix dont les thèmes ,répartis en trois catégories vont dans ce sens, à savoir : la réhabilitation et l'emploi des réfugiés la protection des enfants contre les abus et la négligence, et les initiatives novatrices en matière de réduction de la pauvreté.

Mesdames ,messieurs ,

En conclusion, je voudrais réitérer mes remerciements à son excellence monsieur Koïtchiro Matsura ,Directeur général de l'UNESCO et ses collaborateurs d'avoir accueilli cette cérémonie dans l'enceinte de l'Organisation. Mes remerciements vont ,également ,aux membre du jury du Prix pour les efforts qu'ils ont consentis et à vous ,mesdames et messieurs ,d'avoir bien voulu partager avec nous cette cérémonie

consacrée à l'œuvre de développement.

Speech by H. E. Dr. Y. Seyyld Abdulai, Member the Committee of AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Development Projects:

Your Royal Highness, Prince Talal Bin Abddl'Aziz Al-Saud,

Your Excellency Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome all 01 you to the

Award Ceremony of the AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Development Projects (2002) under the distinguished patronage of HRH Prince Talal. As before, I consider it a particular honor and privilege that I have been asked to speak on behalf of the members of the Awards Committee.

Allow me first of all to pay tribute to the Committee which is made up of very distinguished and highly respected members. I know that I speak on behalf of all of them when I say that we felt greatly privileged to have been called upon by Your Royal Highness to make a contribution to the lofty ideals that guided your establishment of these awards. It is very well known that Your Royal Highness expects people who work with you to instantaneously adopt your high standards. We were, therefore, not surprised that this year you decided that we had to work on our own without Your Royal Highness' safety-net. I hope that the result of our work, under the able chairmanship of our dear brother, Dr. Ahmed Mohammed A met with your approval.

I believe that most of you present here today are familiar with AGFUND and the work it does as well as the importance of the awards for which we are gathered. But for those who may not be, allow me a few words.

AGFUND is, perhaps, the only multilateral institution whose founding derives from the vision of one man, HRH Prince Talal. This in itself would have been a commendable achievement. But HRH further decided that, in spite of his innumerable other commitments, the work of the institution which is to mobilize and effectively channel resources to the poor, the needy and the often forgotten people of the world, was too important to be left to the leadership of other people during the initial years of the institution. As the record shows, he, after many years, still persists in this leadership and the many innovative approaches he has introduced into development work are now widely adopted by other institutions, particularly the fact that the measure of development does not lie in statistics, but on how the lives of the poor, the needy, the uneducated and the sick have been changed in a positive way.

Part of the rationale for the establishment of the AGFUND Prize is HRH stance that excellence in whatever is done must have the pride of place and the fact that great value derives from learning from good examples. It is not the size of a project and the amount of money it costs that matters, but the efficiency and care with which it has been implemented and the impact it has had on the targeted population that we must always ascertain. A well designed and implemented project will have a great effect on other financiers and, indeed, on other individuals, including even the poor who are ready to improve their lot when they are shown the way to do so. The AGFUND Prize is already proving this point as we would see later from the effects of the project that was awarded the First Prize in this year's competition.

Furthermore, the AGFUND Prize has begun to receive wide attention from the international donor community. Prize winners find that many institutions have come to notice their work and to scrutinize what they do very thoroughly to see how they might contribute to what has been judged to be the best practice. The Humana People to People which was awarded the First Prize for their Total Control of the AIDS Epidemic in 2000, has repeatedly informed me that they have been overwhelmed by the recognition they have received since they obtained their award. Not only have they been able to raise Funding from other organizations from different parts of the world that have come to study their program, but they have also received another award this year.

Your Royal Highness,

Mister Director-General,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to report that the Awards Committee has also been overwhelmed by the notice which the AGFUND Price has received worldwide. The growth in the number of projects submitted for the award, the spread over the deferent regions of the world, and, above all, the high quality of the projects have been truly remarkable. The selection of the winners is becoming more difficult as the difference between many projects is becoming so slight. We have been fully aware of our responsibility and we have made our decisions accordingly. We congratulate all those who have competed and we would like to let the winners know that they were judged the best of the best.

In closing, permit me to pay special tribute to the Executive Director of AGFUND as well as to his very able and dedicated colleagues for the tremendous effort they once again put into this task this year. As the Committee acknowledged during the meeting, we are fully aware that we could not have been able to accomplish our task with justice, hopefully, without their effort and their guidance.

Finally, on behalf of the Prize Committee, I thank HRH Prince Talal for giving us an opportunity to participate in this worthy endeavor and wish him continued good health and Allah's guidance in his dedication and service to the underprivileged world.

Speech by H. E. Mr. Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO

Your Royal Highness,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to welcome you all to UNESCO Headquarters on a most special occasion: the nomination ceremony of His Royal Highness Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, President of the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND) as UNESCO Special Envoy for Water in addition to the prizegiving ceremony of the prestigious AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Development Projects. We are highly honoured by the presence of Your Royal Highness and extend to you a warm welcome to UNESCO House.

The very fact that UNESCO Headquarters is serving for the first time as the venue for presenting these distinguished international prizes to talented individuals and organizations is a sign of the strong partnership between AGFUND and our Organization. I would like to express my gratitude to Your Royal Highness for this initiative, which places UNESCO at the centre of celebrating the achievements that have enriched the international community's campaign for sustainable development through innovative practices.

This gathering, furthermore, has great symbolic significance as it coincides with the 20 th anniversary of the beginning of UNESCO-AGFUND cooperation. Indeed, we have enjoyed two decades of very fruitful cooperation with the Arab Gulf countries, whose support we greatly appreciate. Thanks to AGFUND's donation of more than 22 million US dollars, invested in 64 UNESCO projects in 80 countries, the productive collaboration between AGFUND and the Organization has made a real impact on the daily life of the disadvantaged. I would like to pay tribute to the leadership of Your Royal Highness, which has been vital for the success of AGFUND in general as well as particularly important for UNESCO/AGFUND cooperation over the last twenty years.

I first met Your Royal Highness during my visit to Saudi Arabia in January 2000, when you kindly received me shortly after I assumed my responsibilities as Director-General of UNESCO. Following our cordial and useful first meeting, I subsequently welcomed you many times to UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Through these meetings, I have had the chance to appreciate your work in the framework of AGFUND and its affiliated institutions. I also saw clear evidence of your personal commitment to and action for peace and tolerance, values which stand at the heart of the Organization's work.

As a leader who has long recognized that, to be effective, human concern and empathy must be linked with appropriate forms of action that protect and promote human rights, especially those of children and women, Your Royal Highness was the first to open a private school for girls in Riyadh. Subsequently, vigorous development activities for the benefit of women were launched in the Arab world and subsequently the world over. As a result, Your Royal Highness took the initiative to found several institutions in cooperation with regional and international partners, the pinnacle being the foundation of the Arab Women's Centre for Training and Research in Tunisia.

The issue of freshwater scarcity is particularly close to Your Royal Highness's heart. I am informed that, to date, AGFUND has donated 30 million US dollars in support of 27 water projects around the world. I hereby pay tribute in this distinguished forum to your important role in raising awareness of this looming crisis in your native Saudi Arabia and for being one of the pioneering voices issuing an early warning of the far-reaching implications of this problem. It is now more than two decades since you appealed to the Saudi government to adopt a stronger position with regards to water conservation policies and to consider this matter as a strategic issue and as the gravest problem facing the country. Since then, Your Royal Highness has continually emphasized the necessity to ban the sowing of grains as a practice that exhausts water reserves in this arid region. You have called on the participation of citizens, together with the government, to work towards the solution of this problem.

We are very much aware of Your Royal Highness's dedication to tackling the problem of freshwater, which will receive heightened global attention during the International Year of Freshwater 2003. For its part, UNESCO has made ‘freshwater and supporting ecosystems' the absolute priority of the Science sector in our current programme and this emphasis will continue. This is the background against which, in March 2001, I invited Your Royal Highness to honour the Organization by agreeing to become UNESCO Special Envoy for Water. I am delighted that today, on the eve of the International Year, I have the opportunity to bestow this important role upon you. I thank you for heeding the Organization's call.

The International Year of Freshwater was launched one week ago both at UN Headquarters in New York and here at UNESCO, where I maintained that water can be an agent of peace, or an agent of war and conflict. UNESCO's mission of promoting peace, security and development through international cooperation is one which I know you share too.

As UNESCO Special Envoy for Water, Your Royal Highness's main mission will be to shape the world's “water conscience” by bringing the critical freshwater issues before high-level decision-makers and heads of state and by encouraging countries to adopt appropriate institutions, policies and legislation for sustainable water management. In regard to the latter, it is my hope that the International Year of Freshwater 2003 will be a turning point for the dynamic relationship between water and sustainable development. At the Johannesburg Summit earlier this year, a new International Development Goal for water was agreed, namely, that by 2015 the number of people around the world without access to improved water supply and sanitation should be halved. To this end, countries should formulate an integrated water resources management strategy by 2005. It would be most beneficial if, during the International Year and its follow-up, Your Royal Highness could encourage and help countries, especially in arid regions, to develop strategies and national plans of action for meeting these goals. Your assistance in promoting improved management and protection of limited water resources would have far-reaching consequences not only for development but also for peace.

I thus have the honour, Your Royal Highness, to appoint you officially as UNESCO Special Envoy for Water and to present you with your diploma.

[Reading of diploma]

I once again wish you every success in your new mission and thank you for having joined forces with UNESCO to serve the international community.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to add my own congratulations to the winners of the AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Development Projects. Your innovative projects add another dimension to the development of the countries you are assisting. I hope that the award of the Prize is an encouragement to yourselves and, indeed, to others to continue this pioneering work.

Thank you.