Managing the SEED Award and supporting the winners 2010-2011

With the SEED Awards, outstanding local environmental and development projects are rewarded for their entrepreneurial spirit and commitment. The SEED Initiative was launched in 2002 by the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU). It is now part of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is coordinated by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the BMU, and was in 2010 managed by adelphi for the fourth time.

Applications are open to those initiatives that have the potential to make tangible improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability. SEED winners were profiled through SEED’s network and received business and partnership consultancy services to help connect them with potential partners and funders.

The consultancy services provided was based on a Sustainability Entrepreneurs Toolkit developed by adelphi. The toolkit was first used in cooperation with the initiative during a remote support phase; this was then complemented by an individually tailored in-country workshop for the partnership. Due to the partnership with the Green Economy Initiative of the UNEP, the regional focus of the 2010 competition was on Africa, especially Burkina Faso, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Rwanda, and Senegal.