On the 16th of December from 3:00 till 4:30 PM (CET), United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) will launch the third edition of the UCLG Peace Prize in a live online event hosted from The Hague, the city of peace and justice. The prize generates international public attention for the role that local governments play in ensuring sustainable and peaceful development and is awarded once every three years during the UCLG World Congress.
The prize is an initiative of the Associations of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) and is organized with support from several partners such as the Municipality of The Hague, and the Dutch National Foundation for Peace, Freedom and Veteran Care (vfonds). During the online launch event, prominent speakers from various parts of the world will talk about the importance of local initiatives regarding peacebuilding. The event page can be accessed through this link.[A1]
During the World Conference on City Diplomacy in 2008, organized by UCLG and VNG, The Hague Agenda on City Diplomacy was adopted. This agenda aims to highlight the role of local governments in promoting peace, dialogue, and reconstruction throughout the world. One of the propositions of the agenda on City Diplomacy was to launch a peace prize, to be awarded to local governments who either work to prevent or overcome conflicts in their community, or who have helped other local governments in conflict areas in their striving for peace or justice.
In this way, the UCLG Peace Prize generates international public attention for the role governments play in ensuring sustainable and peaceful development. Local governments who have implemented an innovative and high-impact approach toward peace-building and the creation of dialogue are eligible for nomination. Since 2016 the prize is awarded. In addition to worldwide exposure and recognition, the winning local government receives a financial award to strengthen its peace projects and/or to facilitate learning exchanges with other local governments facing similar challenges. Previous winners are the city of Kauswagan (the Philippines, 2016) and the municipality of Arsal (Lebanon, 2019). A recently released publication provides more information on the results of the Peace Prize and other inspiring peace initiatives carried out by local governments.
If you want to join our free online launch event on the 16th of December from The Hague, city of peace and justice, keep an eye on our website or Twitter where we will share more updates. After the launch, every local government which has implemented an innovative approach on peacebuilding can start the application procedure. More details about this process are also available on our website. The deadline for the application is the 1st of March 2022. The final award ceremony will take place during the UCLG World Congress in Daejeon, in November 2022. If you would like to have more information about our prize, please reach out to peace.prize@vng.nl.