MILGAP, the Mashariki Innovations in Local Government Awards Programme, is a biennial awards programme for the East African region that aims to alleviate poverty and promote excellence in public service delivery, good governance, and enhanced local democracy and decentralization. It does this by recognizing, rewarding and promoting innovative practices in local governance thereby demonstrating the valuable work being done at the local level to improve the conditions of the poor. Through the award, innovative ideas reach a wider audience and help reinforce the ideals of UN-HABITAT’s Campaign on Urban Governance and the goal eradicating poverty through improved urban governance. MILGAP is dedicated above all to the priority of eradicating poverty conditions at the national and sub-regional levels and promoting the role of grassroots institutions as veritable actors in sustainable development. It is based on the established and very successful models such as the Impumelelo Innovations Programme in South Africa, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in South Africa, Galing Pook in the Philippines and the Public Management and Citizenship Programme in Brazil.
The programme is managed by UN-HABITAT with support from the Ford Foundation while winners are selected in collaboration with national steering committees in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. UNDP provides support towards development of the programme at the country level.For the 2006 awards, we invite applications from projects in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda at the local, national and regional levels dealing with innovation and decentralization, especially those concerned with poverty alleviation and true partnership between public and private sectors. Projects should outline the process and resources used to implement the innovative solution. Innovation in the MILGAP context is defined as locally initiated, acceptable, creative, an adaptable solution to a local condition or challenge, and replicable elsewhere in dealing with similar problems under similar conditions and circumstances.
The award is open to central government ministries, departments and sections, local governments including district and sub county local governments, the private sector, training and research institutions, youth groups, non-Governmental organizations and community based organizations. Winners will receive recognition and will be included in the UN-HABITAT MILGAP database which is linked to the global database of best practices.
For details of the submission details, click here.
