Kong Ha award

A biennial award has been established by the CAI-Asia Partnership to honor the memory of the late Kong Ha, who served as the chairperson of the Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities (CAI-Asia) from December 2004 to April 2007.

The award will serve as a tribute to those persons in Asia who have a responsibility for the formulation of air quality management related policies and their day to day implementation in Asia. This, in the view of the CAI-Asia Partnership, is the best way to honor Kong Ha, who through his deep commitment and knowledge, untiring enthusiasm, and strong sense of partnership was a key person in shaping and overseeing the implementation of mobile source emission reduction policies in Hong Kong.

The Kong Ha award will be handed out for the first time at the Better Air Quality (BAQ) 2008 workshop, which will be held from 12-14 November 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand. (see www.baq2008.org), by the CAI-Asia Partnership following the recommendation of the Kong Ha award committee which oversees the selection of the biennial winner of the Kong Ha award.  The Kong Ha award committee will receive logistical and secretarial support from the CAI-Asia Center. The Kong Ha award will initially be handed out 3 times in 2008, 2010 and 2012 in conjunction with the Better Air Quality (BAQ) workshops of which Kong Ha, together with Wing-tat Hung (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and W.C. Mok of Hong Kong EPD, were the founding fathers.

The Kong Ha award committee will be chaired by the Chairperson of the CAI-Asia Partnership. Members of the 2008 Kong Ha award committee:

a) Supat Wangwongwatana, Director General Pollution Control Department, Thailand (former Chairperson CAI-Asia), Chairman

b) Mr. W.C. Mok, Principal Environmental Protection Officer, (Mobile Source Control Group) Environmental Protection Department, SAR Hong Kong

c) Wing-Tat Hung, Associate Professor, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

d) Michael Walsh, Chairman, International Council for Clean Transport (ICCT)

e) Anumita Roychowdhury, Center for Science and Technology

f) Cornie Huizenga, Executive Director CAI-Asia Center

Eligible for the Kong Ha award are persons who are working on day-to-day basis on the formulation and implementation of air quality management policies. All fields of air quality management qualify (i.e., relating to mobile, stationary and area sources of pollution) Potential winners can come from local or national government, civil society or academe in developing Asia. Candidates can be nominated by organizations or individuals. Self nominations will not be accepted. The Kong Ha award committee, through its secretariat will also solicit the submissions of applications from worthy candidates.

The following criteria will be applied in selecting the winner:

• Proven track record in getting things done;
• The ability to build strong multi-stakeholder partnerships in support of policy formulation and implementation;
• Technical excellence;
• Demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment of working for a better air quality; and
• Sense of humor

The selection of the winner of the Kong Ha award will be in two stages:

1) Shortlisting of potential candidates to the Kong Ha award committee through review of online submission to the Kong Ha award secretariat;

2) Review of short listed candidates through interviews with nominating organizations or individuals by the Kong Ha Award Committee, or other ways the Committee considers appropriate.

There will be only one winner of the Kong Ha award, no formal runner ups will be identified. In case the selected winner is not able to accept the award for what ever reason the award committee will select a new winner from the short listed candidates.

The winner of the 2008 Kong Ha award will be invited to BAQ 2008 to receive the Kong Ha award. The award comes with a price of US $ 10,000. CAI-Asia will furthermore assist the prize winner to identify suitable learning opportunities to enable the winner of the award to deepen his or her knowledge and forge more partnerships

Time frame for the 2008 Kong Ha award is:

• 4 July 2008: announcement of the 2008 Kong Ha award
• 15 September 2008: deadline of submissions 2008 Kong Ha award
• 30 September 2008: extended deadline of submissions
• 15 October 2008: announcement winner 2008 Kong Ha award
• 14 November 2008: awarding ceremony