On 5 December, International Volunteer Day, the first City with a Heart Award will be presented to those cities that have demonstrated the remarkable contributions civic engagement through voluntary action can make to urban development, especially in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Initiated by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and in partnership with UN-Habitat and the Inter-American Development Bank's Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development, the award will serve as a reference point for recognizing excellence in volunteer promotion for urban development at the community level.

“The Cities with a Heart Award is designed not only to honour cities that are using volunteerism as a force for development, but to encourage other cities to think of creative ways to harness the potential of volunteerism,” says Douglas Evangelista, Chief of the Arab States, Latin America and Caribbean Section of UNV.

“UNV believes in the power of volunteerism to transform communities and make real contributions to local development. This power is even greater when other sectors—business, government—join volunteers to achieve common goals.”

The winning cities, which will receive a commemorative certificate, are being selected on the basis of several criteria such as the level of partnership and civic engagement, significance of activities undertaken, as well as sustainability and overall contribution to the MDGs.

The award stems from a UNV project entitled Caring Cities: Support to Intra-City Volunteerism. The project, which started in 2002 and recently completed its pilot phase, is based on the idea that volunteerism represents a significant and underutilized asset that can contribute to urban development, strengthen civil society and local governments, and foster participatory local governance.

The names of the five cities will be released on Monday, 6 December.