“SDG CHAMPION AWARD” CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Background

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, signed onto by leaders around the world including Mongolia, represent aspirations to end poverty and hunger, protect the planet, promote justice, eliminate disparities and inequalities, and bring prosperity by 2030. Mongolia is one of the early adopters of the SDGs. In line with these global goals, the Parliament of Mongolia adopted its Vision-2050, a strategic policy document on the country’s development priorities in the years to come.

SDGs are inclusive goals that aim to leave no one behind, and they are everyone’s business. These goals are to be achieved by all concerted and collective efforts by all stakeholders, including the Government, development partners, private sector, academia, civil society and last, but not least, by individual citizens.

To this end, the UN Mongolia, in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ulaanbaatar City Mayor’s office and Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is organizing an SDG Open Day on 10 September 2022.

In the lead-up to the SDG Open Day, the campaign seeks to raise awareness of SDGs in Mongolia and the Long-term development policy “Vision-2050” and to acknowledge local initiatives contributing to recognition of individual, collective and corporate actions and will announce open nominations for the “SDG Action Awards”.

Goal

The goal of the “SDG Action Award” is to raise the awareness of SDGs and the Long-term development policy Vision-2050 and to acknowledge and promote best practices and positive changes created by stakeholders, including the private sector, local communities and individuals that contributed to the SDGs.

Nominations and Awards

The “SDG Action Award” will be awarded to the outstanding entrants who nominate their ground-breaking, transformative and change-making works, initiatives, programs, projects, solutions and/or products started since 2015. The SDG Champion Awards will be in the following four nominations:

1. NGOs/CSO initiatives
2. Private sector initiatives
3. Educational organizations
4. Individuals

Awards

The finalists of the Award will receive support for further nomination and application for the International “SDG Action Award”, to be held in Bonn, Germany in 2023.  Learn more: https://sdgactionawards.org/ 

Award general themes and judging criteria

Entries will be assessed to determine whether they are a good fit for one of those themed categories of the UN SDG Action Awards:

• Human development: contribution to the people and their prosperities - promoting people’s well-being and contributing to the brighter and prosperous livelihoods
• Green development: contribution to the planet – promoting environmentally friendly green development, maintaining a balance of the ecosystem, ensuring sustainability and sustainable consumption
• Governance, transparency and human rights: contribution to people-centred public services – promoting smart and sustainable governance ensuring full respect for human rights, fair justice and corruption-free society.
• Partnership and Peace: contribution to the partnership and promotion of peace within larger communities and stakeholders on tackling development challenges

Judging criteria: Each shortlisted entry will be scored on a scale of 0-10 for each of the 4 criteria:

• Impact: What kind of tangible impact has this initiative created on people, planet and partnership, governance and peace? What are the direct benefits and to whom? We will consider the number of people impacted, policies/legislation changed, etc.
• Approach: How is this initiative new or transformative in comparison to what has been done before? Is it a breakthrough idea or process, or a whole new way to address an issue? Is it including those often left behind? Is this initiative innovative to bring positive changes to the planet, society and the economy?   
• Scalability/Replicability: Does this initiative have the potential to scale up or be replicated to create a greater impact on different places at the national level? Is there any evidence that replication or scaling is already happening? is the initiative income generating or independently self-financing and sustainable enough for the future without any external interventions?
• Scope: How wide is the initiative taking place? How many people are getting engaged in and informed about the initiative? How geographically does the initiative spread? Does the initiative cover local communities in rural areas, soums and aimags?

The Selection Committee (comprised of the organizers) will ensure that shortlisted candidates and winners are representative of the diverse sectors and across SDGs within the applicants. Applicants can submit up to two initiatives. If you are unsure which category is the best fit for your initiative, you can include it in the overview description.

Eligible participants

• All individuals, NGOs/CSO, private sectors, and education organizations are eligible to apply
• UN entities and projects funded by the UN are not eligible
• Government organizations are not eligible

Time frame

Eligible initiatives will have been launched between 2015 and now. All applications will need to demonstrate the tangible impact of the initiative regardless of the longevity of the activation – thus ideas or projects that have not moved beyond the conceptual stage will not be considered.

Timeline

15 August – 29 August: Open call for the nominations

30 August – 5 September: Technical review

10 September: Announcement of the winners at the SDG Open Day

Application Form:

Online registration: https://forms.gle/qebGMQitthbWRQpp7