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The SEED Initiative, founded by UNEP, UNDP, and IUCN at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and hosted at the UN Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is a global partnership for action on the Green Economy. The SEED Initiative helps local entrepreneurs to scale-up their activities to boost local economies, tackle poverty and improve livelihoods, while promoting the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems.
The annual international SEED Awards, which is part of the SEED Initiative, recognise inspiring social and environmental entrepreneurs whose grassroots businesses in developing countries can help to meet sustainable development challenges.
The 2011 call for proposals received applications from 76 countries, representing the collaborative efforts of non-governmental organisations, women and youth groups, labour organisations, public authorities, international agencies and academia.
This year Grantees from the GEF SGP in Nepal, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sri Lanka won the SEED AWARD for their efforts to promote the use of sustainable resources and ecosystems.
In Nepal, the SGP grantee 'Women Environment Protection Committee (WEPCO)”, a community based organization run by volunteer household women won the 2011 SEED Gender Equality Award for their “Solid Waste Management and Community Mobilization Program”, an SGP funded waste collection and recycling initiative for over 1,000 households and businesses. Under the initiative, landfill waste is reduced via recycling and biogas plants are fueled by organic waste for which training is provided. A savings and credit cooperative has also been established to mobilize loans to 150 female members.
In Nigeria, the Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADev Nigeria), with the support of the GEF SGP, implemented a 12-month pilot project in 2010 on Okobaba sawdust waste-to-wealth. This pioneer community based eco-business project is the first of its kind in the country. The project which reaffirms “thinking globally and acting locally” of the GEF-SGP provides a practical solution to the problems of sawdust incineration among the poor living close to sawmill. The project used simple technology to convert waste sawdust to a briquette with locally fabricated machinery and build the local workforce to collect and utilize local materials to produce an inexpensive but efficient alternative to fuel wood.
In Rwanda, the “Project for producing edible mushroom spores” is pioneering the local production of primary mushroom spores through a laboratory run by a cooperative of HIV-infected women and widows, an SGP grantee. Supported by international organizations and local government authorities, the initiative will make mushroom production accessible to vulnerable members of rural communities as a profitable and high-yield crop requiring little land.
In Sri Laka, the SGP grantee- Marine & Coastal Resources Conservation Foundation won the SEED Award for it project “Community-based, sustainable and commercially viable Aloe vera products as alternative income generation for fisherwomen in Bar Reef Special Management Area in Kalpitiya”. Low-cost aloe vera cultivation is offering an alternative livelihood to fisherwomen who produce beverages and supply the cosmetic industry. To do this, they use the unproductive lands of the coastal areas for cultivation, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
All the SEED winners will be honoured at a high-level award ceremony in South Africa which will form part of the SEED Green Economy Symposium at the end of March 2012. The Award winner will receive from SEED a package of individually-tailored support for their businesses, access to relevant expertise and technical assistance, and profiling at national and international level at conferences and through the SEED's partners and associates.
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The briquette testing with local cooking chamber, Nigeria
About the GEF
The GEF unites 182 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. Today the GEF is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment. An independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants.
Since 1991, GEF has achieved a strong track record with developing countries and countries with economies in transition, providing $10 billion in grants and leveraging $47 billion in co-financing for over 2,800 projects in over 168 countries.Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), the GEF has also made more than 13,000 small grants directly to civil society and community based organizations, totalling $634 million. For more information, visit www.thegef.org.
About the GEF Small Grants Programme
Launched in 1992, SGP supports activities of nongovernmental and community-based organizations in developing countries towards climate change abatement, conservation of biodiversity, protection of international waters, reduction of the impact of persistent organic pollutants and prevention of land degradation while generating sustainable livelihoods.
Since its creation SGP has provided grants to 12,000 communities in 122 developing countries. Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as a corporate programme, SGP is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of the GEF partnership, and is executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
Media contacts:
Ana Maria Currea, Knowledge Management Facilitator, GEF SGP,
ana.maria.currea@undp.org, 212-906-6028
Maureen Lorenzetti, Spokesperson GEF Washington
mlorenzetti@TheGEF.org, 202.473.8131,