16 August 2001                                                 Press Release No. G/29/2001

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has announced a call for applications for the 2001 ESCAP HRD Award. The Award aims to encourage research, training and other innovative achievement in the field of human resources development (HRD) in Asia and the Pacific.  The theme of this year's Award is " Empowering the Rural Poor through HRD."  The 2001 Award, sponsored by the Government of the Republic of Korea, carries a prize of US$30,000 in the form of a grant in support of further work towards empowering the rural poor. The deadline for applications is 15 November 2001.

The Award is open to government agencies, civil society organizations/institutions, and individuals (resident nationals) in both developing and transitional economy countries and areas of the Asia-Pacific region that have undertaken innovative HRD work to empower the rural poor through means such as education, skills development, health promotion, employment creation, promotion of legal literacy, and social mobilization.

The criteria for selection of the Award-winner will be based on the following:

• Degree of HRD commitment;
• Responsiveness to the needs of the rural poor;
• Innovativeness of the approach;
• Impact; and
• Sustainability of the activity.

    (1) Applicant’s name;
    (2) Applicant’s address (complete postal address, email address and contact numbers);
    (3) A summary of the applicant’s work focusing on the above criteria (maximum 600 words);
    (4) Letters from two independent referees; and
    (5) A project proposal for use of the US$30,000 grant for further work on the empowerment of the rural poor.

Detailed information about the Award and the application requirements are on the ESCAP HRD web site: www.escap-hrd.org.  Alternatively, you may contact directly the ESCAP HRD Section (E-mail address <hrd-section.unescap@un.org> with your full contact details and an information brochure will be sent to you.

Applications should be received by 15 November 2001 addressed to:

Chief, Human Resources Development Section, Social Development Division, ESCAP, United Nations Building, Rajdamnern Nok Avenue, Bangkok 10200, Thailand
Fax: 66(0)2 288-3031; Telephone: 66(0)2 288-1502.

Please note that no applications sent by electronic mail will be accepted.

                                                                           -- UNIS --