January 21st, 2004

Video-conference between the World Economic Forum (Davos) and the World Social Forum (Mumbai).

Chair: Miguel Araujo, Director of Corporate Strategies, IUCN - World Conservation Union

Agenda

Presentation of the award

Comments by selected participants

• Jürgen Trittin, Federal Minister of Environment, Germany (in Berlin)
• Børge Brende, Minister of the Environment, Norway (in Berlin)
• Pieter van Geel, State Secretary, Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, The Netherlands (in The Hague)
• Jose Maria Figueres, Co-CEO, World Economic Forum (in Davos)
• Achim Steiner, Director-General, IUCN-The World Conservation Union (in Gland)
• George Monbiot, Author (in Mumbai)
• Ana Maria Nemenzo, President,  Jubilee South; Freedom from Debt Coalition Philippines/JS Asia -Pacific Region (in Mumbai)
• Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director-General, TERI (in Bangalore)

Discussion

Summary of proceedings

The main launch event for the seed awards initiative – connecting the World Social Forum in Mumbai with the World Economic Forum in Davos with a video-linked panel discussion – took place on Wednesday, January 21. This day marked the conclusion of this year's World Social Forum proceedings, and the opening of the Annual Meetings of the World Economic Forum. The organizers of the seed awards initiative chose to bridge these two events with a video-linked panel discussion for symbolic reasons. Even though the Mumbai and Davos Forums appear worlds apart, the partnership theme may have the potential to bring people together, and to facilitate concrete action on the ground for the implementation of sustainable development.

The panel discussion brought together a group of distinguished leaders from all sectors of society – government, civil society, and the private sector. The meeting was chaired by Miguel Araujo , who also presented the main outlines of the seed award initiative.

In his presentation, Miguel sketched the broader political background in which partnerships have developed – and demonstrated why partnerships are so important, particularly in the sustainable development arena. Miguel Araujo argued that partnerships are no panacea, and that we need to address three critical challenges to really make them work: Inclusion, accountability, and scaling-up. Partnerships need to be inclusive to be accepted by all stakeholders. If partnerships are not inclusive, they will come under attack by those unable to make their voices heard. Related to that, partnerships have to be accountable. Partnerships are political animals. Partnerships are not just about harmony and cooperation – they are also forums in which different opinions clash, and in which resources are allocated or redistributed. Accountability is key to ensure the political viability of partnerships. Finally, Miguel Araujo emphasized the challenge of scaling up. So far, we have only experimented with partnerships. For partnerships to make a difference on a larger scale, they have to be mainstreamed. Mainstreaming partnerships is a challenge for all actors involved, and requires substantial organizational, political, and cultural changes. Araujo then emphasized the entrepreneurial aspects of the seed awards initiative, and explained the main setup of the program that IUCN, UNEP and Stakeholder Forum for Our Common Future are putting together.

Jürgen Trittin , German Minister of Environment, then opened the round of commentators. Trittin emphasized the commitment of the German government to partnerships in sustainable development, but also noted that partnerships cannot exist in a vacuum. Partnerships, as discussed during the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, can only exist and function when there is a proper overall framework of intergovernmental cooperation on sustainable development issues. Trittin noted that in that regard the Johannesburg Summit may not have produced what many people had hoped for, but that it is crucial to take the partnership agenda seriously, and to move it forward in a decisive fashion.

Børge Brende , Minister of Environment from Norway and current Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development, expressed his strong interest in and support for the seed awards initiative. He noted that partnerships are crucial mechanisms to implement sustainable development – and that it is about time to promote good practice.

In a similar fashion, Pieter van Geel , State Secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment of The Netherlands emphasized his government's interest in the initiative, and argued that partnerships – if properly managed and implemented – can be a powerful tool to promote sustainable development.

José María Figueres , the CO-CEO of the World Economic Forum, thanked the organizers of the seed awards initiative that they have decided to include the World Economic Forum in the preparation of the launch events. Figueres emphasized that the work proposed by the seed awards initiative is very close to the principles and work of his own organization: to identify best practice, to support entrepreneurs, and to improve the state of the world. He emphasized the Forum's commitment to the seed awards initiative, and expressed his hope that there may be future opportunities for cooperation.

In his comments, Achim Steiner , Director-General of IUCN-The World Conservation Union, underlined the strong commitment of his organization to the initiative. He thanked the other partner organizations in joining IUCN in this important and timely work. Achim Steiner emphasized that IUCN has a generic interest in promoting partnerships since they are a core component of what IUCN has been doing over the last decades. It is time, Steiner said, to make sure that the full potential of partnerships can be leveraged for the implementation of sustainable development, without falling into the rap of false rhetoric and empty words.

George Monbiot , activist and author from the UK , congratulated the initiative and thanked the organizers for inviting him to comment on the seed awards initiative. He then went on to raise two points of concern to the founders. From his own experience working on award panels he advised the seed awards group that they should avoid filling their jury with the usual high profile people ('all the good and the great') as this usually creates a lot of problems. High-powered people are all to often overloaded with work and do not have sufficient time to properly do their task on the jury. Such a strategy could also lead to a jury biased towards conventional winners that avoid awarding innovative and progressive initiatives that really could really make a difference. Monbiot also asked how the initiative approaches the involvement of multinational companies? If multinational companies are involved, the power difference between the different stakeholders involved must be balanced in the governance structure of initiatives if they are to be equitable.

Ana Maria Nemenzo , President of Jubilee South and FDC-Freedom from Debt Coalition in the Philippines congratulated the seed awards initiative. She found the idea of giving support services to new initiatives instead of a money prize interesting. She went on to point out that companies have one reason for their existence - profit generation. Partnerships need to carefully analyze why they get involved in collaboration. She was not ruling out that companies could be part of initiatives but stressed that great care had to be taken to avoid that MNC take over and dominate an initiative. All to often MNC engage in a good initiative as a public relations activity and then lose interest after a short while. Local projects need innovate ways to keep all stakeholders engaged over time. Nemenzo also pointed to the need for lots of outreach if the award was to receive a broad variety of local applications; this needs to do be done in different languages and not only through a web site. The problem today is often not the lack of information but how to find it.

The last person on the panel to give his comments on the seed initiative was R.K. Pachauri Director-General of TERI who also serves as Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He expressed his strong support for the initiative and revealed that TERI was interested in joining the collaborative initiative. Pachauri said that TERI with its long experience from working in local partnerships all over India could provide support for the outreach but could also be part of the research part of the initiative.