Bahrain, 26 Jun 08

The Green Brigade, a project that has seen some 1700 women being mobilized to clean up the streets of Ouagadogou in Burkina Faso, is the winner of this year’s Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Habitat Award. A joint initiative of the Kingdom of Bahrain and UN-HABITAT, the award carries a cash prize of US$ 100,000.

The Green Brigade came out tops from a list of 16 entries and the jury had a hard time selecting the winner because of the outstanding entrants.

“The Green Brigade was finally selected by consensus as it met all the criteria of the Award and demonstrated excellence in its capacity for urban sustainability. This is a simple yet innovative and resourceful project, which at the same time is relatively cost-effective sustainable, and potentially easily replicable in many other places,” said Shaikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa,
Chairperson of the jury.

In a congratulatory message, Mrs. Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT hailed the Green Brigade for their success. She pointed out that the initiative addressed several of the concerns set out in the Millennium Development Goals, including environmental sustainability, reduction of poverty and women's empowerment.

Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka thanked the Government of Bahrain for sponsoring the award, and helping to recognize such outstanding initiatives globally. Recognition was a sure way of encouraging people all over the world to learn from such innovative projects.

The Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa Habitat Award aims to promote the ideals and principles of good governance and equity in housing and urban development policies and practice.