Laureates Forum
Summary Report from Inagural Meeting
Participants' list [click here]

Dubai, U.A.E., 6 October 1998

Representatives from 1998 and 1996 recipients of the Dubai International Award met on the occasion of World Habitat Day 1998 to discuss follow-up activities. The following summarizes the key recommendations and follow-up action proposed during the meeting.

Recommendations

The following were made during discussions:

1. The BLP Intranet offers an excellent vehicle for cataloguing the activities and outputs of the Laureate’s Forum;

2. Importance of human contact to successful follow-up was stressed; the electronic communication alone is not enough;

3. There is a need for a regular publication (newsletter) to disseminate the experience and expertise of Best Practices;

4. Decentralizing and empowering the network to reach out at the regional and grassroots levels is vital to maximizing the impact of the Forum;

5. Regional networks could meet in non-Award years to assist in the identification of Best Practices and facilitate the transfer of lessons learned from previous Award recipients;

6. UNDP Resident Representatives could serve as a valuable resource for mobilizing political support for national activities;

7. Benchmarking by applying indicators to "Best Practices cities" could serve as an important means of objectively comparing cities;

8. Forum participants should share their "Best Practices" in fundraising, particularly related to mobilizing the private sector.

Follow-up Action

1. CENVI/UCISV-VER to establish close relationship between the three DIA recipients from the Latin America and Carribean region.

2. Surat City Municipal Corporation committed itself to matching the funds received from the Dubai International Award and to investing these funds in activities supporting the Laureate’s Forum;

3 . The Municipality of Agadir will hold a national seminar to share its experience with other interested municipalities;

4. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and the Tora recycling project in Cairo, Egypt, to explore possibilities for tranferring the Zabbaleen experience;

5. Interface, Inc. will try to organize a regional meeting with Banana Kelly;

6. The Colectif des ONGs Nord Africains, Tunisia, agreed to work with the Laureates Forum as a representative of Africaucus, the African regional NGO network;

7. All Forum participants are encouraged to identify and nominate other organisations interested in becoming involved in the exchange of Best Practices.

8. Each partner to submit an action-plan for 1998-2000 reflecting their plans to continue the work of improving the living environment;

9. Habitat and Dubai Municipality to draft a common, simple reporting format which partners can use to report on their activities. Reporting would be 6-monthly and would be collected on BLP Intranet.

10. Habitat to circulate revised Terms of Reference, reporting format and meeting report.