"FEED Africa develops low-carbon eco-agriculture for emerging organic farmers, helping to empower them as entrepreneurs. FTFA brings support in management, training, mentorship and marketing skills and connects the farmers to markets, enabling them to join the mainstream agricultural economy and adapt to climate change," says Quinton Naidoo, head of FEED.
This is the second time FTFA has won a SEED Award, the last being for its Bamboo for Africa enterprise development and carbon sequestration initiative. With the winnings this year, FTFA plans to produce two thirty second public service announcements to further draw attention to climate instability and food security, sovereignty and safety issues.
These awards honour low carbon, African and female entrepreneurs and identify and support innovative social and environmental start-up enterprises which can tackle key sustainable development challenges at community level, in developing and emerging economies.
As in previous years, the 2013 SEED Awards placed a special focus on Africa, with 20 awards being made to enterprises in Ethiopia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. This is part of a larger project entitled 'Stimulating the Green Economy in Africa', which is funded largely by the European Union, and a separate project funded by the Government of Flanders (Flanders International Cooperation Agency) to grant a further two awards in the South African provinces of Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
Reflecting the growing need to encourage climate-smart enterprises at the grassroots level, a further 10 SEED Low Carbon Awards are being made to social and environmental enterprises that focus on mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
Two SEED Gender Equality Awards complete the line-up. UN Women and UNIDO are funding enterprises that are women-led or -owned and prioritise gender equality or women's empowerment as a core objective. The Gender Equality Winners will also be supported by the SEED Associate Hogan Lovells, the international law firm.
The Award winners will receive from SEED a package of individually tailored support for their businesses, access to other supporting institutions and technical assistance, and a financial contribution of US$5 000.
