An Introduction to Honoring Nations

Created in 1998, Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations (Honoring Nations) identifies, celebrates, and shares information about tribal government programs, practices, and initiatives that are especially effective in addressing key needs, problems, and challenges facing American Indian nations. Honoring Nations is administered by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (Harvard Project) at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and is a proud member of a worldwide family of "governmental best practices" programs in Brazil, Chile, China, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda), Mexico, the Philippines, Peru, South Africa, and the United States.

At the heart of Honoring Nations is the principle that tribes themselves hold the key to positive social, political, cultural, and economic prosperity—and that self-governance plays a crucial role in building and sustaining strong, healthy Indian nations. Honoring Nations serves as a vehicle for shifting the focus from what does not work to what does, fostering pride and confidence in the ability of American Indian governments to make positive contributions to the well-being of their respective communities and citizens. Another central piece of the program is the idea that American Indian nations can benefit from having greater access to innovative ideas and effective governing approaches. Award-winning programs serve as important sources of knowledge and inspiration that are drawn upon throughout Indian Country and far beyond.

Honoring Nations invites applications from American Indian governments across a broad range of subject areas including: education; health care; resource management; government policy development and reform; justice; inter-governmental relations; and economic, social, and cultural programs. Partnerships between tribal governments and other entities are welcome, and multiple applications from a single Indian nation are also encouraged. Each applicant program completes a data sheet and answers a series of questions about their governance success story. The Honoring Nations Board of Governors, comprised of distinguished individuals from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, guides the evaluation process in which up to eight High Honors and up to eight Honors are selected for national recognition. At each stage of the selection process, programs are evaluated on the basis of effectiveness, significance to sovereignty, transferability, relevance, and sustainability. To facilitate the spread of best practices, each of the High Honors programs receives a $20,000 award to share their success story with other governments. Honors programs receive a $10,000 award. The Harvard Project also produces reports, case studies, and other curricular materials that are disseminated to tribal leaders, public servants, the media, scholars, students, and others interested in promoting and fostering excellence in tribal governance.

To date, Honoring Nations has recognized 102 exemplary tribal government programs, practices, and initiatives in seven rounds of awards (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008), and held three major symposia on good tribal governance in 2001, 2004, and 2007. Since the program's creation, more than one-quarter of the tribes in Indian Country have applied for an award.