The UNDP Equator Prize: A US$10,000 Award for Indigenous and Local Community Nature-Based Solutions

The UNDP Equator Prize: A US$10,000 Award for Indigenous and Local Community Nature-Based Solutions

Most environmental awards are built around institutions with grant-writing departments and communications teams. The Equator Prize is deliberately built around the opposite: a village fishing cooperative, an Indigenous women’s seed-banking collective, a community forest patrol, a smallholder farmers’ association. Since 2002, the Equator Initiative — a partnership hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — has used the prize to identify local groups that have found ways to reduce poverty by conserving and sustainably using nature, and then to put those groups in front of a global audience of policymakers and funders.

This page explains what the prize offers, who qualifies, how nomination works, how the cycle runs, and how a community organization can prepare a nomination that stands out. Where a fact about a future cycle is not yet confirmed by the Equator Initiative, that is stated plainly rather than guessed.

Key Details

What the Equator Prize Offers

The headline benefit is a cash award. In the 2025 cycle, each winning organization received US$10,000. For a community-based group, that sum is meaningful in a way it would not be for a large institution: it can fund a season of seed purchases, repair a boat, extend a nursery, or cover the running costs of a patrol team for a year.

But the money is only part of what the prize provides, and long-time participants often say it is not the most valuable part. Winners are brought into a global network of recognized organizations — a group that, by UNDP’s own count, had grown to hundreds of honored organizations from more than 80 countries. Membership in that network opens doors to peer learning, to introductions to funders and technical partners, and to invitations that a small rural group would rarely receive on its own.

Winners also receive capacity-building and training support, and they are given a platform at high-level events. In recent cycles, winners have been invited to participate in policy dialogues and special gatherings tied to international summits on climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development. An award ceremony — the 2025 edition was the 16th such ceremony — brings winners together and amplifies their stories to an audience of media, donors, and government representatives. For a community whose work has been invisible outside its own region, that visibility can be as consequential as the cash.

Who the Prize Is For

The Equator Prize is designed for a specific kind of applicant, and understanding that focus is the single most important step before nominating. The prize recognizes organizations, not individuals. It recognizes community-based and Indigenous-led work, not the programs of governments or of large international NGOs. And it recognizes work that sits at the intersection of nature and human wellbeing — groups that protect or restore ecosystems in ways that also improve local livelihoods, food security, health, or resilience.

If your organization is a small cooperative, an Indigenous community institution, a local association, or a grassroots group that manages land, water, forests, fisheries, or wildlife for the benefit of your own community, the prize was built with you in mind. If you are an individual researcher, a national agency, or an international organization looking to fund a project, this is not the right fit. The prize celebrates locally rooted, self-organized solutions and holds them up as models that others can study and adapt.

Eligibility in Detail

The eligibility rules published by the Equator Initiative are specific, and nominations that ignore them are screened out early. The core requirements are:

• Type of nominee. The nominee must be either a local community-based group operating in a rural area, based in a country that receives UNDP support, or an Indigenous Peoples’ community in any country, operating in a rural area. The Indigenous route is open regardless of whether the country receives UNDP support, which is an important distinction for Indigenous groups in higher-income nations.
• Track record. The initiative must have been in existence for at least three years, and/or the actions taken must have been in place for at least three years. This is a threshold designed to reward demonstrated results rather than promising ideas that have not yet been tested.
• Nature-based work. The actions taken must be nature-based — that is, they must center on the conservation, restoration, or sustainable use of ecosystems and biodiversity.
• SDG linkage. The work must deliver benefits related to two or more Sustainable Development Goals. A community that reduces poverty while also restoring a wetland, for example, is speaking directly to the criteria; a project that advances only a single narrow outcome is a weaker fit.

Because the exact wording of eligibility can be refined from cycle to cycle, always confirm the current rules on the official nomination site before you submit.

How the Nomination Process Works

The Equator Initiative issues an open call for nominations during each cycle. When the call is live, nominations are submitted through the official nomination portal linked from the Equator Initiative website. Two features of the process are worth emphasizing.

First, self-nominations are accepted. A community organization does not need an outside sponsor, an academic reference, or an intermediary NGO to put its own name forward. This is unusual among international prizes and reflects the program’s intent to reach groups that lack access to formal networks. Third parties may also nominate an eligible group, so a supporting organization that knows strong local work can submit on that group’s behalf.

Second, the process is multilingual. Nominations may be submitted in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish. Groups that work in other languages — Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian, Russian, and others — can contact the Equator Initiative for instructions on how to submit. This matters, because it means a community should not be discouraged simply because English is not its working language.

Once submitted, nominations are reviewed against published selection criteria by an independent Technical Advisory Committee. That committee assesses each nomination on factors that have historically included measurable impact across two or more SDGs, innovation, potential for scaling or replication, resilience and sustainability, the strength of local partnerships, and social inclusion — including the roles of women, youth, and Indigenous knowledge. Winners are then selected from a very large pool: the 2025 cycle drew more than 700 nominations from over 100 countries, and roughly ten winners were chosen.

The Cycle and Timeline

The Equator Prize does not run on a fixed public calendar that is announced years in advance. Historically it has been described as a biennial award, but recent practice has been closer to annual, with distinct 2024 and 2025 cycles each holding their own call for nominations. In the 2025 cycle, the call opened in late January and nominations closed on 23 February 2025; winners were announced in early August to coincide with the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, and an award ceremony followed in the autumn.

At the time this page was prepared, the Equator Initiative had not published confirmed dates for the next cycle, and this page does not invent one. The realistic pattern to expect, based on recent years, is a call for nominations opening in the northern-hemisphere winter, a nomination window of roughly a month, a winners’ announcement around early August, and a ceremony later in the year — but treat that as a pattern, not a promise. The reliable way to catch the next open call is to monitor the official Equator Initiative website and its announcements directly.

Preparing a Strong Nomination

The short nomination window means that the groups who do well are almost always the ones who prepared before the call opened. A few practices consistently separate strong nominations from weak ones.

Lead with measurable results, not intentions. The committee rewards demonstrated impact. Gather concrete figures before you write: hectares restored or protected, number of households benefiting, changes in income or catch or yield, species recovered, tonnes of carbon, or area of habitat secured. Numbers with a baseline and a time span are far more persuasive than adjectives.

Show the double benefit. The prize exists at the meeting point of nature and human wellbeing. A nomination that explains only the ecological gain, or only the social gain, tells half the story. Make the connection explicit — describe how protecting the mangrove increased the fish catch, or how the seed bank both preserved crop diversity and stabilized food security for women-led households.

Map your work to the SDGs. Because the criteria require benefits across two or more Sustainable Development Goals, name them. State clearly which goals your work advances and give the evidence for each.

Center community ownership. This is a prize for locally led work. Make it unmistakable that the community itself designs, governs, and sustains the initiative, and describe the roles of women, youth, and Indigenous knowledge-holders. Nominations that read as though an outside organization is the true driver are a poor fit for the program’s purpose.

Tell a specific, human story. Beyond the data, the committee and the wider audience respond to a clear narrative of a real place and real people. Concrete detail — a named village, a particular species, a turning point — is more memorable than general language about sustainability.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Nominating the wrong kind of applicant. Individuals, government agencies, and large international NGOs are not eligible. If your organization does not fit the community-based or Indigenous-led definition, the nomination will not advance.
• Missing the three-year threshold. New initiatives, however promising, do not yet meet the track-record requirement. Wait until you can show at least three years of results.
• Describing only environmental or only social outcomes. The prize wants both, linked to two or more SDGs.
• Vague impact claims. “Improved the environment” carries little weight; specific, verifiable figures carry a great deal.
• Waiting for the call to start preparing. The window is short. Assemble your evidence, photographs, and impact figures in advance so that when the call opens you can submit a polished nomination rather than a rushed one.
• Assuming you need an English-language submission or an outside sponsor. Neither is true — self-nominations are accepted and several languages are supported.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much money do winners receive? In the 2025 cycle, each winning organization received US$10,000. The amount for future cycles should be confirmed on the official site when the next call opens.

Can our community nominate itself? Yes. Self-nominations are accepted, and third parties may also nominate an eligible group.

Are individuals eligible? No. The prize recognizes organizations and community initiatives, not individual people.

Do we have to work in a specific country? Local community groups must be based in a country that receives UNDP support and operate in a rural area. Indigenous Peoples’ communities may be in any country, provided they operate in a rural area.

How competitive is it? Very. The 2025 cycle attracted more than 700 nominations from over 100 countries, from which roughly ten winners were selected.

When is the next deadline? The next cycle’s dates were not confirmed when this page was prepared. Monitor the official Equator Initiative website for the next call for nominations.

In what languages can we apply? Nominations are accepted in English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish; other languages can be arranged by contacting the Equator Initiative for instructions.

Official Links and Next Steps

The authoritative source for eligibility, benefits, and the current call is the Equator Initiative’s own site. Start at the main Equator Prize page: https://www.equatorinitiative.org/equator-prize/. When a cycle is open, that page links to the dedicated nomination portal where you complete and submit the form.

Because the prize runs on an open call that is announced when a cycle begins, the most practical step for an eligible community organization is to prepare now — collect your impact evidence, confirm you meet the three-year and SDG criteria, and be ready to submit quickly once the next call is announced. If you are unsure whether your group qualifies or need to submit in another language, contact the Equator Initiative directly through the details on its website.