The Seed Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs in Environment and Development) aimed to inspire, support and build the capacity of locally-driven entrepreneurial partnerships to contribute to the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

GPPi, working with the Seed initiative Secretariat and Seed partners implemented the research and learning channel from January 2004 to May 2006. This channel firstly performed research to feed into the Seed Awards made sure the awards were as relevant and vital as possible, and secondly helped learn from the award initiative by looking for trends in the applications submitted and by studying the delivery of the services to the awardee partnerships.

The case studies created and the lessons drawn from them proved invaluable in inspiring and supporting the creation of new partnerships, as well as assisting in tuning the Seed Initiative to provide the most valuable services. The case studies and the analysis were presented at the UN CSD 14 meeting on 10-11 May 2006. Results were fed back to policy makers, partnership practitioners, and into the Seed Initiative.

Project supporters

German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservancy, and Nuclear Safety, U.S. Department of State, U.N. Global Compact, Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Great Britain, Netherlands Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, U.N. Global Compact, Swiss Re.