One of the first SEED Winners in 2005, the SRI Global Marketing Partnership has become the catalyst for an international enterprise spanning a good number of countries in Africa and Asia.
The global law firm Hogan Lovells became a SEED Associatein 2008 as part of the firm's drive to broaden its pro bono practice into the area of international social entrepreneurship.
The Nicaraguan project, 'Lighting Up Hope and Communities', received a SEED Award in 2008 for its production and sale of solar products specially designed for local needs.
Back in 2005 the Maya Nut Programme was selected as a SEED finalist for its impact on the lives of women and their families in rural Nicaragua and Guatemala.
SEED's Executive Director, Helen Marquard, took part in September in a session entitled Social Entrepreneurship: A New Development Paradigm” at the 4th International Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility at Humboldt-University Berlin.
Innovative “partnerships” will be the focus of a new global award initiative, the SEED Awards, launched today at the World Social Forum in Mumbai and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Over 260 new partnership proposals from sixty-six countries, representing 1,200 organizations, have been received in response to a call for submissions by the Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development (SEED) Initiative under its biennial Seed Awards programme.
Through an annual award, the World Challenge has identified, for the past six years, projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level.
The GEF (Global Environmental Facility) Small Grants programme (SGP), implemented by UNDP, has recently granted the women's group 'Solar Women of Totogalpa', a partner in the 2008 SEED winning initiative 'Lighting up Hope and Communities', funding for the construction of their solar restaurant.
Since they received the 2007 SEED award, “Nueva Vida” (New Life), based in the Ecuadorian Andes, has been able to make progress through new partnerships.
The twelve finalists of the first biennial SEED Awards were announced tonight at a reception at the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress in Bangkok.
The winners were selected from a pool of over 260 entries from 66 countries, representing 1,200 organisations.
Entrepreneurs promoting a range of businesses – from community-based tourism in Brazil to Vietnamese bringing medicinal plants to the international market – are among 10 finalists announced today by the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for a key sustainable development award.
Seed Awards 2007 recognize, support and encourage the delivery of innovative, local, partnership-based solutions to global challenges of environmental stewardship and poverty eradication.
At SEED, we celebrate and support innovative enterprises around the globe who integrate social and environmental objectives into their business models. On World Environment Day, we would like to give a shout out to enterprises who #BeatPlasticPollution everyday through their innovative products and eco-inclusive value chains.
Regina Christina Andoh, ASA-Program intern at SEED, shares her adventures in entrepreneurship and motivation for joining SEED in Germany and South Africa.
Helen Marquard, SEED's Executive Director has joined the 12thsession of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in Bamako, Mali (20-25 June). During a UNEP-hosted event on the green economy at AMCEN, she launched the 2010 Awards for entrepreneurship in sustainable development.
As part of the research agenda, SEED has published a new paper, exploring how the international development community approaches scale-up and replication.
The initiative 'Innovative oyster, fish and algae aqua-farming' in the Cook Islands was one of the 2009 SEED Winners. The initiative co-farms fish with shellfish and micro-algae in inland ponds, drawing on the tropical climate, natural nutrient cycles and new harvesting technologies. It will now expand to Nigeria and Pakistan.
From only a vision and informal association of diverse partners, the SRI Global Marketing Partnership (System of Rice Intensification), one of the 2005 SEED award winners, has become the catalyst for an international enterprise spanning several countries and exporting many tons of certified organic and fair trade rice grown by small farm families. SRI-produced specialty rice is now available in retail stores.
Over the last few months the SEED Secretariat has attended all the award ceremonies and conducted workshops for each of the 2009 SEED Gold Winners.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has awarded Andaman Discoveries (2008 SEED Winner) the '2009 Best Green Tour Operator' title.
Seeing the obvious parallels between her work and that of the Ban Talae Nok women's soap group, Mamta Chandarat, one of the partners in the Himalayan Oregano Oil and Sustainable Livelihoods against MRSA initiative (SEED Winner 2008), visited Andaman Discoveries (SEED Winner 2008), in November 2009.
Jonathan Tillson, Head of the Sustainable Development Unit at the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Chair of the SEED Board, explains UK’s plans in regards to supporting social and environmental entrepreneurs and talks about the focus on social and environmental entrepreneurs during the Copenhagen summit and the implications for COP16 in Mexico and about achieving a sustainable Olympics 2012 in London.
The Winners of the 2007 SEED Awards arrived in Pretoria on Saturday, 13 October for the Annual Partnership Forum and a two day workshop
T'ikapapa, based in Peru, beat nearly 1000 other projects from around the world to win World Challenge 2007.
The SEED Initiative is pleased to announce the inspiring ventures which have been selected as finalists for the 2008 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development. This year's 15 finalists offer exciting examples of innovative action in important fields of sustainability.
Pintadas Solar in Brasil is one of the five highly resourceful and innovative local entrepreneurial partnerships today celebrated as the SEED Initiative announced its 2008 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development.
2008 Award Winner 'From Relief to Self Reliance', a community-based tourism initiative working in tsunami-hit villages of Thailand's North Andaman coast, met the UK's Secretary of State for Environment, Hilary Benn, to receive their Award.
For Nicaraguan winner 'Lighting Up Hope and Communities', the 2008 SEED Awards events in Managua were an overwhelming success. The partnership received its SEED Award.
