Food Security Subject of AGFUND Prize 2012

AGFUND Announces the Winning Projects of AGFUND International Prize 2011 The Arab Gulf Program for Development “AGFUND” has declared the projects that have won AGFUND International Prize for Pioneering Human Development Projects for the year 2011, in the field of “Empowering Youth through entrepreneurships and job opportunities” after having them approved by the prize committee. The Committee has also announced Food Security as subject for AGFUND Prize 2012. It is worth mentioning that the Prize Committee has held its 13th Meeting under the chairmanship of HRH Prince Talal Bin Abdulaziz, President of AGFUND, at Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 for selection of the winning projects. The meeting was attended by the members of the Committee, who represent the regions of the world, namely; Signora Mercedes Menafra de Batlle, President of the All for Uruguay, Uruguay. Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne MP, Founder and Chairman of the AMAR International Charitable Foundation, England. Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, President of the Islamic Development Bank Group, Saudi Arabia. Professor Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen Bank and Chairman Yunus Centre, Noble Peace Prize Laureate, Bangladesh, and Dr. Y. Seyyid Abdulai, Former Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Nigeria. The Committee has announced that four projects have won its International Prize for the year 2011. These were selected out of 73 projects from 66 countries nominated for the prize in its four categories. The “Project Intra 21” implemented in 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean by the International youth Foundation (IYF), was declared winner of the first category prize, which values 200 thousand US dollars, and allocated for projects by international organizations in the field of supporting the developing countries’ national policies and programs for empowering youth through entrepreneurships and job opportunities. The “Integrated Youth Employment Creation (IYEC)” implemented by the association Hands Empowering the Less Privileged in Sierra Leone (HELP-SL) has won the second category Prize, which values 150 thousand US dollars and dedicated for the projects implemented by NGOs in the field of empowering youth through entrepreneurships and job opportunities. The project was As for the third category that is specified for the projects by governmental organizations in the field of adoption of pioneering entrepreneurships for empowering youth and increasing their job opportunities, the winning project was the “Zonal Center for Business Development”, implemented in Colombia by the Mayor´s Office of Medellin. This prize values 100 thousand US dollars. The winning project of the prize under the fourth category that is dedicated to the projects by individual initiatives in the field of empowering youth through entrepreneurships and job opportunities, is “The Association of United Efforts”- implemented in Uganda upon the initiative and effort of Mr. Tayebwa Allan. The winning projects have passed the contest in which the nominations that meet the prize conditions are presented to a team of qualified experts to evaluate them in terms of their compliance with the standards as set in the Prize Regulations.