The Local Project Challenge, a collaboration between academic and social organizations, has honored the International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Foundation’s (IWSH) upcoming Community Plumbing Challenge (CPC) Indonesia program as a Merit Finalist at the U.N.-Habitat World Urban Forum 10 in Abu Dhabi.

The CPC was among the honorees in the education category, announced Wednesday as part of the “Accelerating the SDGs through the Local Project Challenge” seminar.

The Local Project Challenge is a partnership between the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at The Earth Institute, Columbia University and the Faculty of Architecture, Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, and builds on the Global Studio and People Building Better Cities programs.

“It was a very strong project in a strong field of projects,” said Dr. Anna Rubbo, director of the Local Project Challenge. “It was incredibly clearly presented, it was very clear in the way in which the goals and the achievements were outlined, and I think it was really just a compelling project the way you handle it, the sort of issues that you address and the extraordinary contribution that you make to solving difficult issues.”

An international panel of judges from the fields of education, urban planning and architecture reviewed the nearly 50 nominees for Merit Finalist and Honors Awards. CPC (Untia Village, Indonesia) was one of three projects recognized with Merit Awards in the education category, alongside Participatory Design and Planning in Tubicanga (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Zero Waste – Total Wealth (Delhi, India). The Education Category Honor Award was presented to Design Curricula for a Resilient 21st Century (Dublin, Ireland).

LIGHT: Leadership for Social Empowerment, a project by the International Islamic University Malaysia, won the prestigious People’s Choice Award.

The Local Project Challenge feature page for the CPC is available at www.localprojectchallenge.org/community-plumbing-project.