The National Cities Conference Programme, of the Ministry of Cities in Brazil, is awarded for impressive work in promoting the participation of ordinary people in urban policy-making. The creation of the Ministry of Cities in 2003 and the annual National Cities Conference has revolutionized social participation in Brazil resulting in far-reaching impacts on pro-poor innovations in urban planning and housing. The partners in this initiative are the local communities, the private sector, non governmental organizations, professional, academic and research organizations, labour unions, and government officials. All contribute to decisions on policies executed by the Ministry.

The Yangzhou Municipal People’s Government in China’s Jiangsu Province is awarded for conservation of the old city and improving the residential environment. With a population of 1.28 million people, Yangzhou has been transformed from a shanty town into a clean, modern city within five years. A total of US$770 million has been invested in solving housing problems for over 148,000 people through the renovation of 3,050 housing units in the city centre, and construction of 33,000 units of affordable houses. The Municipality has invested US$2 billion for the construction of infrastructure and has guaranteed the supply of water, electricity and gas mainly to the poor. Through cooperation with local real estate development companies, the Municipality offers land buyers low prices and waives government fees to enable land ownership.

The French firm Veolia Environnement and the Governorate of Alexandria are awarded for exemplary public and private sector collaboration in Alexandria's solid waste management.

The waste project has registered for a listing as a certified Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) within the framework of the Kyoto Protocol because it involves landfill gas recovery expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 3.7 million metric tons over the period 2005-2015.

H.H. Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, The Prime Minister of The Kingdom of Bahrain

For his inspirational efforts in poverty alleviation through the provision of housing and welfare support for the poor and a commitment to participatory urban governance

Italy

Cardinal Renato Martino, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is personally awarded with the 2006 Habitat Scroll of Honour for his his tireless work to help improve the plight of slum dwellers around the world.

One of the most senior Vatican officials, Cardinal Martino has repeatedly pledged the continued support of the Roman Catholic Church to help improve the plight of slum dwellers around the world. He personally intervened with the Kenyan government in 2004 to prevent the mass eviction of people living in Kibera, a crowded Nairobi slum that is home to over 700,000 people, through which the authorities had intended to build a new city bypass.

Pag IBIG Fund based in the Philippines is nominated for making the dream of affordable housing a reality for hundreds of thousands of households. The fund was set up in 1979 and sustained for 27 years. It offers a rich variety of housing solutions with special attention for investments of Filipino migrants working overseas. By its very name, which stands for “Pagtutulungan sa Kinabukasan: Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya, at Gobyerno”, Pag-IBIG Fund works towards making a reality the vision of a home for every Filipino family. Created on June 11, 1978, the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) has a two-pronged mandate: generation of savings and provision of shelter for the Filipino workers.

Yaroslavl City Administration in central Russia is cited for delivering high quality fresh water to its entire population. Yaroslavl is situated on the Volga River. For over 50 years, the water supply was not only inadequate but highly polluted and contaminated by effluent from the big industries in central Russia and raw sewage. The Yaroslavl city administration determined to provide clean water to all its residents and constructed three water supply stations, over 80 boosting pump stations and several sewage treatment plants. Disposal of untreated sewage into the Volga has stopped. Partners in the project were the European Union, and experts from American, Dutch and German companies. Moscow financed the construction of the third stage of the city water treatment and purification plants for the sewage systems. Monies collected from local water consumers remain the main source of funding for sustaining the project.