The Seed Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and Development) is a global network for action on sustainable development partnerships. The Initiative aims to inspire, promote and develop the capacity of locally driven entrepreneurial partnerships that contribute to the internationally agreed goals contained in the Millennium Declaration (MD) and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPoI).

The Seed Initiative responds to the challenges that many sustainable development partnerships face, including the need for both technical and financial support in the early stages of developing and building partnership until it enters into implementation, a need to focus on the wide variety of small initiatives, driven by local actors, in addition to large-scale partnerships, and the need for effective 'communities of practice and knowledge' that allow mutual learning, support and collaboration.

In order to accomplish its goal, the Seed Initiative has chosen three main areas of focus:

Promote partnerships (through a biennial international award scheme; events and publications): Encourage local level, entrepreneurial partnerships that directly benefit local communities; mobilize collective action that provides practical interventions in environmental, social and economic development in developing countries; and demonstrate that the wide variety of small partnerships driven by local actors make a positive contribution to sustainable development;

Support nascent partnerships (through offering tailor-made support services for winners of the Seed Awards): Deliver bottom-up demand driven partnership support by responding strategically to the need of locally driven partnerships for technical and financial support in early stages of development, mitigating the potential risk of failure;

Increase the understanding of partnerships (through research activities and developing learning tools): Capture, profile and disseminate information on exemplary partnerships that could be used for sustainable development elsewhere; advocate the need for effective communities of practice and knowledge that allow mutual learning, support and collaboration; and integrate best practice examples of successful local partnerships into high level decision making processes

The Seed Initiative delivers these actions through a lean operational structure that aims to deliver this focus by coordinating and partnering with likeminded organisations and networks that are delivering — or are willing to engage in — promoting, supporting and understanding of sustainable development partnerships.

Since its launch in January 2004, the Initiative has broken ground in revealing the wealth of entrepreneurial partnership activity taking place on the ground. During the 13th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) in New York held during April 2005, five winners were announced. These were selected by an international jury to be the recipients of the first cycle of Seed Awards, awarded biennially by the Seed Initiative. The award scheme provides dedicated institutional capacity and targeted support services to partnerships. It focuses specifically on maximising the opportunity for partnerships in the beginning stages of development to succeed during the more diffcult and early implementation phases.

Furthermore, it has effectively publicized the partnership approach to sustainable development, given advice to over seventy new partnerships and extensive support to twelve, supported five winning partnerships on the ground and engaged in a cuttingedge programme of research and learning to track the evolution of new partnerships to assist both policy makers and practitioners.

Through the publication of the Partnership Report, the Seed Initiative aims not only to develop best practice, generate awareness amongst decision-mak-ers about the immense potential that such partnerships hold in contributing to the fight against poverty and the facilitation of sustainable development — but also to provide guidance for replication of successful partnership models globally in other developing countries.

Seed Initiative Secretariat
Mr Francois Rogers
Project Coordinator, World Conservation Union (IUCN), World Headquarters 28 Rue de Mauverney, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 22 999 00 00/01; Fax: +41 (0) 22 999 00 02
E-mail: francois.rogers@iucn.org
Website: http://seedinit.org

Implementing Partners:
UNDP: Mr. Charles McNeill, charles.mcneill@undp.org
UNEP: Dr. Cornis van der Lugt, cornis.lugt@unep.fr
IUCN-World Conservation Union: Dr. Gabriel Lopez,
gabriel.lopez@iucn.org

Supporting Organisations and Members of the Board:
The governments of Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, the UK, the US; and Swiss Re.