Introduction
The 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress was held in Bangkok , November 17th-25th. Around 5,000 participants, including over 40 Ministers, 1,000 scientists, 200 business representatives and hundreds of representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were in attendance.
The Seed Initiative invited eighteen representatives of the twelve finalist partnerships of the Seed Awards 2005/06 to attend. This was made possible thanks to the kind support of the Seed Initiative’s Core Partners (IUCN, UNEP, UNDP) and Supporters (German, US, Norwegian and UK Governments), as well as support for individual finalists provided by the Asian Development Bank, the Japanese Government, USAID Madagascar, the Water and Nature Initiative, ComPlus and Lufthansa.
The objective in inviting the Seed Awards finalists was to support the further development of their partnerships through external networking, identifying financing opportunities, building external communication skills, and supporting finalists to learn from other partnerships, and to foster interaction and exchange with other Congress delegates.
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Events
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| Achim Steiner, Director General of IUCN, announcing the finalists of the Seed Awards 2005/06 |
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Seed Finalists receiving formal congratulations during a World-Bank hosted reception |
World Bank Reception
The formal announcement and celebration of the 12 finalists took place at a reception hosted by the World Bank – an event that attracted around 500 Congress delegates. Ian Johnson, Vice-President of the World Bank formally opened the event, followed by brief speeches from Achim Steiner, Director General of IUCN, Charles McNeil, UNDP and Cornisvan der Lugt, UNEP. Achim Steiner invited each finalist on stage to be congratulated and presented with a Seed Awards certificate.
Exchange workshop
| Finalists of the Seed Awards 2005/6 participated in a half-day workshop to enable the exchange of knowledge and experiences of partnership building. |
Seed Booth
A Seed Initiative exhibition booth displayed posters with details and photographs of each finalist project, as well as information on the Seed Initiative, the Seed Awards and the Associate Partners Network. The prime location of the booth at the entrance to the main Congress area allowed for plenty of interaction with Congress delegates.
Press Conference
A press event and photo opportunity to promote the Seed Initiative and finalists took place on November 19th. Each finalist was given the opportunity to give a short presentation of their partnership at the Press Centre to an audience of journalists, Government representatives and interested individuals from other organizations. Journalists received a copy of the Seed press release and the Seed brochure.
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Meetings
The Seed initiative arranged a series of formal meetings for the Seed finalists with potential funders and supporters, allowing them to seek the advice of representatives from a number of organisations, as well as discuss their projects in more detail with experienced development experts.
Eco-Agriculture Partners
All agriculture related finalists met with representatives from Eco-Agriculture Partners. Finalists talked about their priorities and needs, and discussed ways of receiving support from Eco-agriculture partners, as well as how they might contribute to its growing network.
Equator Initiative
Seed finalists met with the winners of the Equator Prize from 2002 and 2004 to exchange experiences and discussed how international recognition received through winning an award can affect people’s work on the ground and how it can be used to its best effect.
IUCN/ Forest Conservation Programme
A number of Seed finalists met with a representative from IUCN’s Forest Conservation Programme, to discuss their partnerships and gain useful insights and connections.
USAID/Development Credit Authority
Seed finalists met individually and as a group with representatives from USAID’s Development Credit Authority. The structure and functioning of the DCA was explained in detail, and finalists were able to discuss their financial proposals, as well as their eligibility for financial support from USAID.
USAID/ Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade (EGAT)
Seed finalists were given further details on USAID’s funding structure and in particular the system of country offices during this informal meeting with representatives from USAID’s EGAT department.
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