100 RESILIENT CITIES CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE official rules - How to Apply.

official rules

100 RESILIENT CITIES CENTENNIAL CHALLENGE
2013 Official Rules

Objective

To influence the global discussion of resilience and surface new ideas and innovations on resilience that benefit the residents of cities, particularly poor and vulnerable residents who are often disproportionately impacted by shocks; and foster local discussions, planning and collaboration that leads to resilience-building action in at least 100 cities globally.

Description of Opportunity
The Rockefeller Foundation defines resilience as the ability of a system, entity, community, or person to withstand shocks while still maintaining its essential functions and to recover quickly and effectively.

As shocks and stresses grow in frequency, impact and scale, and have the potential to ripple across systems and geographies, cities are largely unprepared to respond to, withstand, and bounce back from disasters. With more than 75 percent of the world’s population expected to live in cities by 2050, public- and private-sector leaders are expressing an increasing desire to build greater resilience, yet many have neither the technical expertise nor the financial resources to create and execute resilience strategies on a city-wide scale, and especially to do so in a way that addresses the needs of their poor and vulnerable residents.

To enable 100 cities to better address major 21st century challenges, The Rockefeller Foundation is inviting cities from around the world to apply for the 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge (the “Challenge”). Selected cities will be announced in three rounds over 10the next three years, with the final round of selected cities announced in 2015.

Each selected city will receive:

1. Membership in the 100 Resilient Cities Network, which will provide support to member cities and share new knowledge and resilience best practices.
2. Support to hire or fund a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) to oversee the development of a resilience strategy for the city and be part of a learning network of other CROs.
3. Support to create a resilience plan, along with tools and resources for implementation.

Given the diverse needs of the selected cities, The Rockefeller Foundation and its partners cannot guarantee funding for the development and implementation of selected cities’ entire resilience plans. There may be additional tools and resources that cities choose to fund themselves, either directly or by securing other funding.

Who should apply? 
Municipal government leaders, or major institutions that have a predominant affiliation/association with the city and demonstrate collaborative partnership with a municipal government, following advance registration, are invited to submit their application by October 14, 2013 at 23:59:59 GMT. Only one application will be accepted from each city.

The Challenge is international in scope. However, Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons of the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), and any individual or organization with whom a financial or other dealing by The Rockefeller Foundation or its partners would be considered a “prohibited transaction” (defined by OFAC as trade or financial transactions and other dealings in which U.S. persons may not engage unless authorized by OFAC or expressly exempted by statute) are not eligible.

Each application must:

• Not exceed 2,750 words in total (unrequested attachments will not be accepted)
• Include completed responses to all required questions
• Include a letter of support from the senior-most representative of the city’s government, whether elected or appointed
• Include a link to a map or a digital map attachment of the applicant city in which areas and features of particular importance to your application responses are highlighted and annotated.

All applications are available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Additional languages may be included in later rounds. If you have any questions about applying in these languages, you may contact:

• For all inquiries in French, contact ***@***.***.
• For all inquiries in Portuguese, contact ***@***.***.
• For all inquiries in Spanish, contact ***@***.***.

Submission Deadlines and Review Process 
The application must be completed and submitted online or sent by email to ***@***.*** by October 14, 2013 at 23:59:59 GMT. Additional information may be requested from an applicant at any time. A panel of judges will assess the merit of proposals; the challenge administrator will make final selection decisions. Due to the expected number of applications, reviewers will not be able to provide individual feedback for applications not selected. A request to submit additional information does not guarantee selection. The Rockefeller Foundation and its partners assume no obligation, no responsibility and no liability for costs incurred by applicants in completing the application.

All selected applications will be notified by December 3, 2013. Application and notification deadlines are subject to change at any time. Any changes will be reflected on the Challenge website.

Evaluation Criteria 
Applications will be reviewed by a panel of judges and the challenge administrator, who will assess the overall quality of the application based on the following criteria:

• A view of resilience that is resonant with The Rockefeller Foundation’s definition
• An articulation of the city’s greatest vulnerabilities as the catalyst for the city to build its resilience
• The desire to treat resilience-building comprehensively (building resilience in more than one realm of vulnerability), indicating which realms of vulnerability would be addressed
• The desire to treat the city’s approach to resilience-building comprehensively, through multi-sector partnerships including multiple government agencies, the private sector and civil society
• An approach to ensuring that the development of a city-wide resilience plan will include the engagement and voice of their city’s poor and vulnerable residents
• A resilience plan that explicitly benefits the city’s poor and vulnerable residents

Subsequent Changes
The Rockefeller Foundation reserves the right to amend these Official Rules or cancel the Challenge at any time. Any changes will be reflected on the Challenge website http://challenge.100resilientcities.org/.

Restrictions on Lobbying Activities 
The Rockefeller Foundation is prohibited from engaging in or earmarking funding for any lobbying or political activities, as these terms are specifically defined under U.S. tax law. While your responses to the application may describe policy solutions, please note that the support you receive may be limited with respect to policy solutions due to these prohibitions.

Privacy Notice 
Information collected from any applicant is subject to these Official Rules and The Rockefeller Foundation’s privacy policy and Terms of Use, available at http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/privacy, and will be used by The Rockefeller Foundation in accordance with these Official Rules and its privacy policy and Terms of Use. To help the challenge administrator in its evaluation and analysis of applications, all applications and associated materials submitted (collectively, “Submission Materials”) will become the property of the challenge administrator and may be subject to external review by its partners. Please carefully consider the information included in the Submission Materials. If you have any doubts about the wisdom of disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, please consult with your legal counsel and take any steps you deem necessary to protect your intellectual property or confidential information. You may wish to consider whether such information is critical for evaluating the submission, and whether more general, non-confidential information may be adequate as an alternative for these purposes.

The Rockefeller Foundation, the challenge administrator and their partners respect confidential information they receive. Nonetheless, notwithstanding your characterization of any information as being confidential, The Rockefeller Foundation, the challenge administrator and their partners may publicly disclose all information contained in Submission Materials to the extent may be required by law and as is necessary for potential partners and external reviewers to evaluate them and the manner and scope of potential funding consistent with appropriate regulations and their internal guidelines and policies.

For international applicants, please be aware that the information you submit is collected in the United States of America. In addition to being subject to these Official Rules, The Rockefeller Foundation Privacy Policy and its Terms of Use, the collection, storage, and use of your data will be subject to U.S. laws and regulations, which may be different from the laws and regulations of your home country. By participating in the Challenge, you are consenting to this collection, storage, and use.

Warranty
By providing any Submission Materials, the sender warrants to The Rockefeller Foundation, the challenge administrator and their partners that the sender has the right to provide the information submitted.

Governing Law
This Challenge shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A. without regard to its conflicts of laws provisions. All participants in the Challenge hereby irrevocably (1) agree that any and all disputes, claims, causes of action, or controversies arising out of or in connection with this Challenge shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in New York County in the State of New York, USA and (2) consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of those courts and waive any objection to such venue based on grounds of forum non conveniens. Should any part of these Official Rules be declared invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction of the State of New York, such invalidation should not invalidate the remaining portions of these Official Rules, and they shall remain in full force and effect.

Questions
Please contact: ***@***.***