Over 260 new partnership proposals from sixty-six countries, representing 1,200 organizations, were received in response to a call for submissions by the Seed Initiative - Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development - under its biennial Seed Awards programme.

The Seed Awards are an international competition to find the most promising entrepreneurial or innovative, locally-driven partnerships for sustainable development. The awards are not financial, but rather provide a highly-flexible package of individually-targeted support, connections and facilitated access to funders to give winning partnerships every chance of success. The diverse pool of submissions for the inaugural awards include local businesses, multinational corporations, public authorities, industry associations, research institutes, local women's groups, international and national civil society organizations and local and regional cooperatives. Ninety percent of the submissions are from partnerships in developing countries with the vast majority designed by and for local people.

Almost all projects involve NGOs or community-based organizations and 60% cooperate with small and medium sized enterprises. Many of the projects also include an international link with 7% of the submissions involving transnational companies and 14% including international agencies.

The focus of most of the partnership proposals (over 90%) lies in developing countries. The thematic issues they address are very diverse. Two thirds address water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity (the so-called WEHAB issues) - half of these submissions have an emphasis on agriculture. The remaining third demonstrate a wealth of creativity in developing solutions in areas as diverse as eco-tourism, recycling and cleaner production, and the empowerment of women.

IUCN Director General Achim Steiner said of worldwide reaction to the Seed Awards, "The innovative thinking in these submissions clearly shows how practical results can be achieved through joining hands across the broad spectrum of institutional diversity and interests. They address the critical issues many countries are facing such as access to water and energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity."

UNEP Executive Director Klaus Töpfer commented, "The sheer number and inventiveness of these proposals reveals the tremendous potential of entrepreneurial partnerships to contribute to sustainable development. The 1,200 organizations engaged with the award plainly demonstrate that all sectors are eager to pool their energies, knowledge and resources."

Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP Administrator said "The global community must rise to the challenge of nurturing innovative entrepreneurial and partnership activities in order to provide the essential support all sectors of society require to meet the Millennium Development Goals." Malloch Brown urged the international community to help this new wave of cooperative action achieve its potential.

Germany's Environment Minister Jürgen Trittin expressed his pleasure at the success to date of the Seed Initiative. "I am convinced that such innovative partnerships can play a vital role in complementing governments' efforts to achieve sustainable development. The response to the first call for the Seed Awards exceeds our expectations and underlines our confidence in this initiative as a means to encourage and promote creativity and synergies between unlikely partners," said Minister Trittin.

Return to newsletter front page