Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft

The Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award celebrates creative solutions to the problems confronting people living in cities today. The award focuses on projects that directly improve the living conditions of urban residents. The public, politicians and private and charitable organizations are encouraged to become actively involved and to take on shared responsibility for their city or neighbourhood.

The number of applicants for the Urban Age Award in Cape Town exceeded all expectations: 254 entries were submitted – a new record for the award first presented by Deutsche Bank in 2007.
An independent, interdisciplinary jury of international and local members selected a shortlist of eight finalists from the large pool of applications. The project that improved the living conditions in residents’ immediate environment the most effectively, according to the jury, is called Mothers Unite, which is located in the Lavender Hill area of Cape Town, a neighbourhood located to the southeast of the city center that has a high level of unemployment, poverty, gangsterism, drugs and violence.

Founded in 2007 by a mother, the initiative Mothers Unite now serves as a safe haven for 120 children between the ages of three and fifteen. On three afternoons a week, numerous activities take place in a village, temporarily constructed of shipping containers, including storytelling and painting as well as computer literacy and first aid classes. The children also receive a hot lunch there. The facilities include a library, office, kitchen, vegetable garden and sports equipment as well as a playground – an oasis in the middle of a rough environment. The Mothers Unite project primarily addresses families, with the objective of ensuring their security and care through the community’s shared commitment.

For more information on the award, visit www.DBUAaward.net