The Mashariki Innovations Local Governance Awards Programme (MILGAP) is a biennial sub-regional (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) awards programme that seeks to promote excellence in public service delivery through recognising and rewarding what the organisers consider to be innovative projects in local governance.

The main objectives of MILGAP are to: identify and highlight innovative examples that promote the principles of good local governance; reward projects that focus on eradication of poverty; publicise innovative community projects; facilitate the adaptation, replication, and scaling-up of projects; and present role models of best practice. The programme is managed by the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT) with Ford Foundation funding, in collaboration with the National Steering Committee in the East African sub-region of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. The activities of the project are developed within the broad framework of the global campaign on good urban governance being spearheaded by UN-HABITAT.

The award is organised around the following broad themes: participatory governance; social services, gender, and inclusion; infrastructure, communication, and transport; poverty reduction and economic development; and environmental sustainability and ecology.

Click here for more information about the award.

The project should have been in effective operation at least for two years and be in a partnership involving at least a local authority and/or a civil society organisation as one of the key actors, in collaboration with other partners.

Submissions should be concise and not longer than five A4 size pages. They must follow the format outlined in the guidelines. Submitters are encouraged to include brochures or other promotional material, photographs and/or other graphic material, and articles appearing in newspapers, professional journals, newsletters, or other publications. Ideally, submissions should be sent by email, but those arriving by post or fax will also be considered.


Deadline for submissions: May 31 2008.

Click here to download submission guidelines in PDF format.

Click here to download submission guidelines as a Word document.

Submissions should be sent to the following relevant country offices: