Big Green: Pre-call for the 2009 SEED Awards

[Seedawards]

Calling entrepreneurs for sustainable development: scale up with the 
help of a 2009 SEED Award.

 
Do you have an entrepreneurial and innovative idea that is 
locally-driven and has great potential to contribute to sustainable 
development in developing countries?

In January 2009, the SEED Initiative will be launching its call for 
proposals for the *2009 SEED Awards for entrepreneurship in sustainable 
development. *Sign up to our mailing list at www.seedinit.org to be 
alerted when the call opens.

SEED Award Winners receive a tailored package of support services, worth 
up to $40,000, to help their venture to become established and to 
increase their impact. This includes access to relevant expertise and 
technical assistance, meeting new partners and building networks, 
developing business plans and identifying sources of finance.


You can apply for a 2009 SEED Award if:


·           you are finding new ways of simultaneously improving incomes 
and strengthening livelihoods; tackling poverty and marginalisation; and 
managing and conserving natural resources and ecosystems


·           you are developing a new concept that brings together people 
and organizations  from different backgrounds to work in partnership, a 
project that requires partners to pool their commitment and human, 
financial, and natural resources


·           you need support to make your idea a reality, or to help you 
grow.

 
We welcome innovative ideas from any group in a developing country, 
which is working in partnership with other stakeholders. The call for 
initial expressions of interest will open in early January 2009 and 
close in mid-March 2008. Winners will be announced at the UN Commission 
for Sustainable Development in New York in May 2009.
Further details will be available at www.seedinit.org when the call for 
submissions is launched in January 2009.

 

The 2008 SEED Award Winners

 

·           In Brazil, partners in Pintadas Solar are triggering 
community approaches in the semi-arid Northwest to water-efficient crop 
irrigation and biofuel production to address climate change adaptation 
and mitigation, and food security and poverty.


·           In Cameroon, Guiding Hope partners plan to expand their 
production of organic, fair-trade honey from the remote Adamoua savannah 
to reach international markets and to become Cameroon's largest exporter 
of high quality beeswax, as well as building an international market 
chain for the community-owned soap- and candle-making businesses.


·           In India, local businesses and an NGO have teamed up with a 
UK university and identified an essential oil from high altitude 
Himalayan oregano as an antimicrobial agent that could be used in 
handsoaps and surface disinfectants in hospitals as a preventative 
against the bacterium Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 
*(*MRSA*)*.


·           In Nicaragua, a university research centre, a women's 
cooperative, an NGO and experts on solar technology will launch a 
cooperative business that will produce and market solar products made 
from recycled solar cells and solar cookers adapted for local needs.


·           In Thailand, tsunami-affected communities on the Andaman 
coast plan to expand employment opportunities through community-based 
tourism while the proceeds will support local projects such as 
handicraft marketing, a community centre, recycling, and youth-led 
conservation programmes.


About the SEED Initiative

 
The SEED Initiative identifies profiles and supports promising, 
locally-led start-up enterprises working in partnership to improve 
livelihoods, tackle poverty and marginalisation, and manage natural 
resources sustainably in developing countries. SEED develops learning 
tools for the broad community of social and environmental entrepreneurs, 
informs policy- and decision-makers, and aims to inspire innovative 
entrepreneurial approaches to sustainable development.

SEED is a global network founded in 2002 by IUCN, UNDP and UNEP to 
contribute towards the goals in the UN's Millennium Declaration and the 
commitments made at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable 
Development.

Partners in the SEED Initiative are IUCN (the International Union for 
Conservation of Nature); the United Nations Development Programme 
(UNDP); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and the 
governments of *Germany*, the *Netherlands*, *South Africa*, *Spain*, 
the *United Kingdom *and the *United States of America*.

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