30 YEARS ON AND STILL A REFERENCE : 16 LAUREATES ARE THE LIVING PROOF

Because the King Baudouin Foundation is convinced that worldwide solidarity should be promoted, it created the King Baudouin International Development Prize thirty years ago. The award, which comes with an amount of 150,000 euros, has been presented every two years since 1980 and rapidly earned an international reputation. Over the past three decades, numerous laureates underlined the importance of this award for themselves and for those who benefit from their action.

Above all, the King Baudouin International Development Prize aims to reward the commitment of persons or organizations which have made an important contribution to the development of Southern countries or to solidarity between industrialized countries and developing countries.

To choose the laureate of this award, the Board of Governors of the Foundation bases itself on a report that is drawn up by an independent Selection Committee. The Committee does not apply rigid criteria, nor does it use a pre-established evaluation grid. On the one hand, it does this because it is persuaded that a purely mathematical selection system does not necessarily reward the most interesting initiative. On the other hand, because the notion of "development" has evolved since the award was created, and because the King Baudouin Foundation wishes to follow this evolution.

Over the years, the award has been allocated to extremely diverse candidates. The list of laureates covers a host of domains, from literacy to the prevention of HIV/AIDS over technology transfers, new forms of credit or the respect of human rights. But rather than simply listing the laureates, we think that the nature and the type of action undertaken by the successive laureates is proof of the evolution that is underway.

From science to economy

In the last thirty years, the concept of development has changed considerably. The first laureates, alternately and at times even in parallel, were people who brought about change at the grassroots level, or scientific researchers or bodies. These two profiles clearly illustrate the dual approach of reflection on development at the time.

There were some who thought that science would provide the tools to combat famine, to improve food production in the Southern countries and to eradicate certain illnesses. Although the King Baudouin Prize never rewarded juggernaut technological projects, which did not always take the local reality into account, the list of laureates clearly reflects the hopes that were associated with technological advancements during the 1980s. Others, in contrast, tended to emphasize human fraternity and work with the local communities. Some of the more remarkable accomplishments include the work of Brazilian educationalist Paulo Freire, aimed at promoting literacy and raising awareness among the poorest people in his country.

Over the years, international cooperation – and with it, the King Baudouin International Development Prize - has managed to bypass this contrast. One of the first new criteria to be taken into consideration by the Selection Committee was the innovative character of the initiative: the winning project must have a model function, must open up new possibilities, and must transcend the specificities of the local context so that it can be reproduced elsewhere in the world. Elsewhere in the South, but also in “developed” countries, as these can sometimes draw inspiration from experiences of the South. Thus, initiatives aimed at allocating credits to underprivileged people who are trying to overcome poverty, in line with the example of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which received the award in 1992, have been introduced in several other countries worldwide, including in Belgium.

Decisive and courageous action

The choice in favour of the South African organization, Kagiso Trust, in 1990, moreover demonstrates that in the face of the desperate living conditions that many populations in Southern countries experience, the King Baudouin Foundation gladly recognizes the legitimacy of decisive and courageous action, insofar as it respects human rights.

The fact that it awarded the 1996 Prize to the Brazilian Landless Peasants’ Movement (MST) shows the same determination. The indefatigable actions of MST to bring about land reform also touch on the issue of the excessive concentration of property, and more generally, on the boundary between social development and political action. Is putting pressure on a country’s political structures, even if done simultaneously with more traditional social initiatives, still development? In the world of development specialists and of NGOs, the majority will tend to answer this question affirmatively. The desire for development necessarily implies that you should try to change social and economic structures, or you run the risk of overlooking the real problems. The Prize has followed this evolution, at the risk of fuelling incomprehension among the authorities of the country in question, especially when the laureate contests his national environment.

By awarding the 1998 Prize to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, chaired by Mrs Asma Jahangir, the Foundation confirmed its firm choice in favour of an integrated approach to development. This choice underpinned the association's concern as regards the respect of human rights, at a time when the international community had just celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also indicates the close links between these rights and the aspiration of people to bring about their own development.

North-South, the same struggle

Subsequent choices have confirmed this broader notion of development, as the Foundation rewarded actions in domains that concern Northern and Southern countries. Whether consciously or not, the King Baudouin Prize broke through the dualism, which continued to prevail in the discourse on development for several years. Development was only considered an issue for certain countries, specifically those of the “Third World”. Other countries were not impacted, as they were already developed. The Foundation also moved away from the traditional and paternalistic notion of cooperation, in which the North’s only mission is to help the South grow food, dig wells, set up health centres, etc.

The Costa Rican association, Fundecor, the 2000 laureate, received the award for its innovative approach to the environment, inspired by sustainable development, a relatively new concept in the 1990s. A pioneering choice, which revealed a conviction that has since been widely disseminated, that economic development cannot overlook the protection of the environment in which we live.

In 2002-2003, the Committee clearly indicated that development requires people to tackle the structures of international trade relations, by awarding the Prize to Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), a fair trade organization. Once again, this choice shows that development is not about topical action, but about structural conditions, about the transformation of North-South mechanisms, and even, about the responsibility of the citizens of the North when it comes to the organization of worldwide society.

In 2004-2005, the notion of participative democracy was honoured through Ousmane Sy, from Mali, who launched actions designed to promote decentralization, to organize transparent elections and better public governance. At the time, the laureate stated that "decentralization certainly allows for the consolidation of the democratic process”. The Selection Committee stressed that Sy “had succeeded in creating an environment conducive to a better public administration and increased stability, two conditions that are crucial for development”.

Two years later, in 2006-2007, the award went to Front Line, an international NGO which dedicates its efforts to breaking through the isolation of human rights defenders worldwide. The defence of human rights, which had already been honoured in the past, was once again on the agenda as an integral part of any development actions.

Finally, in 2008-2009, the Prize was awarded to KBR68H, an Indonesian radio news agency, which consolidates democracy by disseminating information on societal challenges. As a result, it allows the population to be part of the decisions about their future, and their development.

Innovative character and multiplier effects

In the early 1980s, a narrow vision might have led people to ask whether the environment, civic participation, human rights and information are directly linked to development. Over the years, the King Baudouin Foundation has managed to provide a clear, affirmative answer to this question by confirming its evolution in the choice of its laureates in line with the debates and progress as regards development. To such an extent even that honouring an initiative, regardless of its generosity, which is helping the most underprivileged without tackling the root causes of their situation and without involving them in the decision-making process, could legitimately be considered a step back in time.

This change is obvious from the criteria used to choose a laureate. The most fundamental notion is that of the innovative aspect, both in its field and in the method used. Is the candidate ”ahead of the curve”? This logically means that the King Baudouin Foundation would most likely choose young and promising organizations, with a long-term vision, but who already have a substantial trackrecord. An older criterion, which is equally fundamental, is the existence of a multiplier effect. This shows that the laureate does not only have to act, but also stimulate others to act, thus shifting from a project to the implementation of a process.

Ten years ago, on the occasion of the Prize’s twentieth anniversary, the King Baudouin Foundation talked to laureates to find out how winning the Prize had impacted their activities. These consequences can be summarized in two words: multiplier effect.

Next to the prize money, the awarding of the Prize has generally facilitated their access to other external support, governmental or non-governmental, which has allowed them to increase their resources for action. This bears testimony to the international credibility of the King Baudouin International Development Prize. Second consequence: many laureates have thus been able to increase their development efforts. Thirdly, several of them have acquired notoriety and have been recognized as experts in their field, thanks to the Prize. They have been invited to testify about their experiences, they are asked for their advice as experts and in some cases, their models are reproduced. These qualitative repercussions seem to indicate that the Prize represents much more to laureates than an amount of cash, to supplement their resources.

Thus, the King Baudouin International Development Prize has shown that it is capable of evolving in line with the notion of development, both in its explicit criteria and in their implicit concepts. At the same time, it also tries to apply the same characteristics that it has come to expect from its laureates to its own choices.

Brussels, May 2009