Mondialogo Awards celebrate cooperation between young engineers from North and South

• © Mondialogo
• Award ceremony: team from Guatemala and the UK

The Mondialogo Engineering Award is the world’s first contest of ideas for young engineers from developed and developing countries. It invites young people with different cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds to work together on projects that address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, in particular poverty reduction and sustainable development, and produce sustainable solutions for developing countries through dialogue and tolerance.

Sustainable irrigation in rural South Africa, communicating medical data through optical fibers in Nepal, and building workshops for carpentry and bakery apprentices in Guatemala, are among the 31 projects from 31 countries rewarded by the UNESCO and Daimler Mondialogo Engineering Award in Mumbai, India, on 10 December 2007.

Twenty thousand euros were awarded to each of the ten laureate teams from developed and developing countries that worked on projects together. The winners came from Guatemala and the United Kingdom (UK); South Africa and the United States of America (USA); the Palestinian Territories and the USA; Rwanda and Germany; Indonesia and Australia; India and USA; Nepal and the UK; India and Singapore; Nepal and Germany; Kenya and Sweden. Another 20 teams received honorary awards of 5,000 euros each. One team was given a Continuation Award medal for a project rewarded in 2005 and pursued through 2007. Project proposals addressed problems such as infrastructure, health, food processing, energy and water for disadvantaged populations in developing countries.

The Mondialogo Engineering Award is part of the “Mondialogo Intercultural Dialogue and Exchange” initiative, launched by Daimler and UNESCO in October 2003. Some now regard it as the “young engineer’s Oscar.”

Related links
:: Full press release
:: Mondialogo website

• Author(s):UNESCOPRESS
• Source:UNESCO Press Release 2007 No.157
• 10-12-2007