Exploring migration, habitability and climate change in the future – scenarios for Africa and Asia
Insight by Emily Wright O'Kelly, Tobias Bernstein
News publ. 16. Dec 2011
This year’s winners of the SEED Awards were announced on 15th December 2011 at a ceremony in New York. The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual awards scheme designed to find the most promising, innovative and locally led start-up social and environmental entrepreneurs in countries with developing and emerging economies. In 2011 the international jury awarded a total of 35 initiatives that contribute significantly to poverty reduction and ecological sustainability. adelphi supports the award winners by a tailored short-term consulting and by organizing network meetings.
In 2011 adelphi supports the awards for the fifth time now. The award winners receive tailored short-term consulting measures for their businesses and partners by adelphi and are put in contact with potential partners and investors. The professional counselling of these small and medium enterprises intends to strengthen and continuously improve innovative concepts to sustainable development and climate protection. Based on a “Sustainability Entrepreneurship Toolkit” that adelphi developed especially for the SEED Awards, the covered topics range from marketing strategies, partnership management and acquisition, community involvement and benefits management up to funding & financing. In addition, adelphi organizes bilateral meetings between the initiatives and international organisations to explore possible financing and partnership opportunities.
The SEED Initiative was founded in 2002 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). As a result of the partnership with UNEP’s Green Economy-Initiative, this year’s regional focus was on Africa and concentrated on Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa. Additionally, in 2011 a special SEED Gender Equality Award was handed out to the most promising initiatives that is women-led or owned, and prioritizes gender equality or women’s empowerment as a core objective.