Guide to the Application

Welcome to the WRI Ross Prize for Cities Guide to the Application.

Please take note that the application cannot be saved and continued later. We recommend completing the questions offline, and pasting in responses.

Please be sure to fill out all fields. Note that some questions incorporate word limits on responses. You will have an opportunity to upload/share additional resources in the last section of the application.

We do not require proof of eligibility at this stage. We do assume that the submission of an application constitutes self-certification of eligibility to receive the prize.

BASIC INFORMATION

• Project Name – Project name
• Project Location – Main city and country where your project took place. If it is a neighborhood project, please mention the area.
• Project Start Date – YYYY MM DD
• Website (if available)

DESCRIPTION

Why should we consider your project for the prize? How has it been transformative for the city?

“Elevator Pitch” – Provide a succinct and persuasive description of the project to quickly distill and convey what is exciting and important about the project. You will also have a chance to elaborate upon some of the key details of the project in the full application, but this is a chance to make a strong first impression. As you craft your elevator pitch, aim to:

• capture your project in a short, simple and clear way
• be specific
• use language that is engaging, but not filled with jargon
• convey the impact and importance of the project, again using succinct, clear, and compelling language.
• keep your response at or below 3,500 characters.

IMPACT

Please describe your project's economic, social and/or environmental impacts, including both positive and negative impacts. Please make sure to mention the implications of the project, if any, for equity and on poor and marginalized populations. In providing evidence of impact, we are interested in both quantitative and qualitative indicators that give a sense of the nature and scale of the project’s impact. Please provide specific measures and illustrations. We have not established a minimum threshold of impact for any given project to be considered "transformative," but those that have created deeper, more extensive change will be more competitive than others.

In describing impact, please clarify which impacts are directly attributable to the project and which impacts are more indirectly linked to the project, through replication, the impact of the project on leveraging additional investments, and/or other responses to the direct project outcomes.

For example, your project might have directly resulted in the development of 10,000 new housing units that are accessible to public transportation, including 4,000 units that are designated as affordable housing. This would be the direct impact. A subsequent partnership between the city, community-based organizations, and developers to extend an existing urban greenway to connect to these new housing units would be considered a leverage investment. The impacts of this leverage investment, for example if the greenway extension includes 25 community gardens, ensuring that half of the plots available are prioritized for low-income residents, would be an indirect impact.

Please indicate methods for evaluating impact and attach supporting evidence at the end of the application. It is desirable, but not required, for projects to have a positive impact on all three areas.

Economic impacts: Economic transformation can encompass various forms of change, including growth or contraction of the city or neighborhood economy, shifts in the distribution of resources, assets and opportunities and transitions from historic occupations to job opportunities linked to emerging sectors. Our focus is on finding projects that have contributed to more vibrant, inclusive and robust urban economies.

Social impacts: How has the project contributed to systematic changes – positive and negative – in peoples’ lives and wellbeing, both as individuals and as communities? Positive impacts might mean improvements in physical safety and security, housing security, or food security. They might also mean expanded freedom of expression and civil and human rights. Projects might strengthen social networks or improve social cohesion or expand representation and civic engagement, particularly from typically marginalized communities. A project could also reduce social and economic inequalities and/or create new opportunities for the upward social mobility of poor and/or marginalized groups.

Environmental impacts: We are interested in understanding both the short- and long-term effects of a project on the state and dynamics of the physical environment. We are also interested in impacts on relationship between the city and the air, water, land, bio-diversity, and other resource systems it interacts with. Project impacts may include both mitigation of environmental change as well as adaptation or building resilience to environmental change. We also consider impacts on both remediation of pollution as well as mitigation.

• Positive Impacts – We are looking to identify and recognize projects that have contributed to large-scale transformational change.
  • Economic – 4,000 character limit.
  • Social – 4,000 character limit.
  • Environmental – 4,000 character limit.
• Negative Impacts – It is common for projects to generate negative impacts, some of which might be unintended or unanticipated. We understand that projects are part of a broader change journey that a city is going through and that change happens in cycles – some representing more positive shifts and others more negative. Please discuss your approach, if any, to mitigate negative impacts. We seek to understand the negative project impacts and mitigation strategies taken in part to understand the durability of the positive changes in the city.
  • Economic – 4,000 character limit.
  • Social – 4,000 character limit.
  • Environmental – 4,000 character limit.
• Scaling – In the assessment of economic, social and environmental impacts (above), we seek to understand the scale of impact in terms of number of people benefitting and size of environmental benefits. We are also interested in whether and how the initial project has been replicated elsewhere, and if it has leveraged additional resources (financial, human, technical)—or the scaling-up of the project. We consider replication and leverage to be additional indicators of impacts in the three domains. These are considered evidence of the value that others see in the project.
  • Replication – The project has been replicated in other geographies. Please describe where the project was replicated and indicate the process that led to replication. 4,000 character limit.
  • Leverage – The project has mobilized other resources (financial, human, technical), expanding the original scope of impact. Please include specific indicators that show the type and magnitude of the additional leverage and briefly describe what led to this expanded resource capture. 4,000 character limit.
• Project Beneficiaries – Please indicate the number of people that directly benefitted from this project (direct beneficiaries) as well as the number of people that have indirectly benefited (indirect beneficiaries) with a brief description of these groups served. Explain how the project served these populations (both directly and indirectly). Be explicit in your answer. For example: 4,000 new units of affordable housing were created that were connected to public transportation. Please attach supportive or explanatory documentation on how you arrived at these beneficiary numbers.

SUSTAINABILITY OF IMPACT – The process of transformational change is inherently cyclical with periods of large positive strides marked by setbacks, followed by new gains. We are seeking to identify projects that have built on dynamism and momentum to generate significant shifts that are able to be sustained over time. Many projects generate a large splash, but fail to deliver impact that endures over time.

The WRI Ross Prize for Cities is primarily awarded based on demonstrated impact and the sustainability of transformation. Across WRI’s portfolio of work in cities, we have found there to be a higher chance that impacts will be sustained over time when the following factors have been part of the project design and implementation: 1) the existence of collaboration and demonstration of support from diverse stakeholders; and 2) information about the project has been clearly and transparently shared and discussed with the wider public.

Please explain, as specifically as possible, why the project impact is sustainable and will be sustained and/or amplified over time.

• Collaboration and Transparency – Project has provided opportunities for all types of stakeholders to engage and provide input. Mechanisms that further enable access to information and engagement with the project have been included. Measures to use a collective decision -making approach have been used. Please describe these opportunities, mechanisms and measures, and include discussion of the different stakeholders involved and information shared. 4,000 character limit.
• Timeline – Please tell us about key events over the lifetime of the project, such as the start of implementation, scaling milestones, important shifts in the direction of the project, additional partnerships initiated, etc. Please provide dates (YYYY/MM) followed by actions taken. For example: 2012/06 - First stakeholder engagement meeting, vision and project goals discussed

Primary Contact Information

• Contact Name – Name of primary contact
• Contact Email – Email of primary contact
• Contact Phone Number – Enter contact number starting with country code
• Position – Relationship to the Project
• Organization – Associated organization of primary contact

Project Team – Include all organizations and the key individuals within the organization who have been responsible for conceptualizing, initiating and implementing the project. If multiple individuals within an organization have been involved, separate their names with commas. If an individual has acted in their own personal capacity to contribute to the project – that is, without substantial support from any organization and not as a part of that person’s job responsibilities – note the organization as “N/A” and provide that person’s name. The names entered are considered as the project team and thus the recipients of the WRI Ross Prize in the event that the project wins. Please note that while the prize honor can be awarded to individuals, direct financial disbursements can only be made to organizations (See Terms and Conditions).

Please be sure that your responses are comprehensive. The application team is responsible for including all significant contributors to the project, and a finding of omission of substantial contributors during semi-finalist and finalist review may result in disqualification of the application.

• Organization, Key Individual(s)
• Organization, Key Individual(s)
• More Organizations – Please use this field to identify additional organizations and key individuals. Separate by semi-colons.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Please upload, provide links to, or expand upon any relevant supporting information.

• Space for five uploads, up to 8 MB each. Allowed file types: gif jpg jpeg png txt pdf doc docx ppt pptx xls xlsx
• Space to share three external URLs
• Additional Information – 4000 character limit. How did you hear about the WRI Ross Prize for Cities?

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

By selecting "Yes," I certify: 1. That I have the authority to make this application; 2. That I have read and agree to the WRI Ross Prize for Cities Terms and Conditions; and 3. That the information I have submitted and will submit is true and correct in all respects.