Pioneering development projects with global potential are being sought by Expo 2020 Dubai as part of its Global Best Practice Programme, which aims to enhance visibility of best practices for the benefit of all.

The programme provides projects being delivered by governments, businesses, international organisations, academia, communities and individuals around the world with the opportunity to showcase their results on a global stage, while connecting with millions of people and charting action for greater results.

Under the theme ‘Small Steps, Big Leaps: Simple Solutions for Sustainable Impact’, the Global Best Practice Programme is built on the belief that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 requires local solutions within nations, communities, neighbourhoods and households to ensure no one is left behind.

A prestigious international selection committee has been formed to choose projects for the programme, including representatives from the Bureau International des Expositions (the governing body of World Expos), the University of Cambridge, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, UN-Habitat, UN-Water, UNDP, UNICEF, Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.

Applicants are encouraged to submit projects that show tangible solutions and real results that address any of the 17 SDGs – a collection of goals that, if achieved, will ensure a good basic quality of life for everyone. The projects should highlight simple but effective solutions that can be adapted, replicated and scaled to achieve global impact.

Projects could include local actions such as providing mobile toilets in rural communities to improve sanitation access for nomadic communities; empowering smallholder women farmers by providing financial literary and marketing skills; establishing a municipal government project that prepares the community for unexpected natural and human-made disasters; or a banking app for the unbanked to improve their financial empowerment.

Shahbano Tirmizi, Senior Manager – Global Best Practice Programme, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “In 2015, the world set out the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – a plan underpinned by the SDGs to ensure individuals and communities everywhere have the opportunity to thrive. We believe the Expo 2020 Dubai Global Best Practice Programme can add value and advance our collective impact towards achieving these goals by acting as a platform to showcase solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

“The programme is also another opportunity at Expo 2020 for countries to tell their stories of success and for those nations with strong foreign aid policies and programmes to celebrate how they support development globally.”

A feature of every Expo, the Global Best Practice Programme resonates with Expo 2020’s theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, and its three subthemes, Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. It also aims to inspire millions of Expo 2020 visitors to create their own ideas for a more sustainable future.

Applications are open until 30 May, 2019, and should align with one of five priority development areas:

• Inclusive and sustainable service delivery: A reliable service provision in urban and rural areas, as well as in fluid environments such as informal, nomadic, post-disaster, emergency, and refugee settlements
• Livelihoods and enterprise development: Promoting alternative employment and income opportunities, women in the workplace, competitive products and services, and improved market access
• Resilient habitats: Better protecting human, economic and natural assets in urban, rural and fluid environments
• Social development: Reliable, affordable and appropriate healthcare and education systems and delivery
• Water, food and energy security: Smarter consumption and resource management to better meet increasing water, food and energy requirements for a growing global population

Applicants can find out more information about the programme and apply via the Expo 2020 Dubai website: https://www.expo2020dubai.com/en/programmes/best-practice-programme or via email: bestpractice@expo2020.ae.

Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region. It expects to welcome 25 million visits between 20 October, 2020 and 10 April, 2021, with approximately 70 per cent of visitors projected to come from outside the UAE – the largest proportion of international visitors in the 168-year history of World Expos.