About SEED Research and Learning

About SEED Research and Learning

Wednesday, 13 August 2008 12:11

Gathering evidence, informing policy, and developing learning tools.

A central and defining feature of SEED's programme is its commitment to a research and learning agenda, thereby helping to build an environment in which sustainable development entrepreneurs, working in partnership, can thrive.

The SEED Research and Learning Programme aims for a number of outcomes:

• an expansive, and expanding, community of sustainable development entrepreneurs and partnership practitioners supporting each other in the improvement of their business practice and their social and environmental contributions;
• an understanding of the critical success factors necessary for scaling up and replicating start-up ventures in order to increase significantly local level contributions to sustainable development and the attainment of internationally agreed goals;
• guidance for policy and decision makers on identifying entrepreneurial partnerships worthy of investment and support, and recommendations on necessary enabling conditions such as financing and capacity building;
• a better understanding of benchmarking and the use of indicators, so that the environmental, social and economic benefits can be tracked, the impacts of entrepreneurial partnerships can be better measured and potential investors - both public and private - can be reassured that entrepreneurial partnerships are worthy of their support;
• the continual improvement of the SEED Initiative.

A unique aspect of SEED’s Research programme is that the winners are identified at the beginning of their initiative. SEED provides the structure to revisit the winners year after year to see what is working and what is not. In contrast, the literature on social/environment entrepreneurship tends to draw upon examples and case studies of established ventures, rather than an exploration of the process of becoming a success.

SEED publishes regular research reports and disseminates its findings through the SEED website, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the SEED Annual Partnerships Forum, and other relevant international, regional and national events.

The Research and Learning programme is currently managed by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, based in Canada - www.iisd.org