“If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, then you have to go together.” This is what the multi-actors partnerships nominated for the Convergences Awards 2016 proved during the “Meet the nominees” night on June the 23rd.
Find the portraits of the nominees on our website, throughout the month of August.
The challenges of exclusion, poverty and climate change are not separated issues. Rather, they add up their effects at the expense of the most disadvantaged countries and populations. Consequently, these challenges must be addressed comprehensively and in an integrated manner. Beyond international decision makers, we must all, as citizens, local decision makers, producers, consumers, work without partitioning or prejudice for the construction of a “Zero exclusion, Zero carbon, Zero poverty” world. On June 23, the Convergences team was happy to see so many people gathering around innovative partnerships and projects for 3Zero world during the –“Meet the nominees” night.
The added value of multi-actors partnerships
Convergences believes in the idea that unity is a strength. All initiatives can benefit from a constructing dialogue and building partnerships with other organizations. These partnerships allow solidarity and innovative initiatives to multiply their impact and reach a global mobilisation by attracting more stakeholders around common goals. This is the reason why the Convergences Awards were created in 2011: to promote partnerships between private, public and solidarity-based actors, to meet these social challenges together. Supported by the City of Paris and DEVEX, the Convergences Awards reward innovative partnerships with high social and / or environmental impact every year. All the nominees and laureates embody the multi-stakeholder vision promoted by Convergences. Throughout their initiatives, implemented by solidarity structures in partnership with private and / or public organizations, they contribute concretely to an effective “Zero exclusion, Zero carbon, Zero poverty” world.
Partnerships to promote access to energy…
1.2 billion people still do not have access to electricity . These people mostly live in twenty countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, such as India, Bangladesh and Sudan, and 80% of them live in rural areas. If no effort is made, 12% of the world population will still be without electricity and 31% without modern cooking solutions in 2030. But millions of people also face fuel poverty in so called “developed” countries. The project DORéMI – France, is a multi-stakeholder partnership which attempts to provide an answer for the 5 million households in France who face this problem.
In Mali, where 82% of territories are not electrified, the Electrified Activities Zone in Konséguéla appears to be a desert mirage.
Projects in favor of sustainable agriculture and the protection of ecosystems…
“When a tree falls, we hear it; when the forest grows, not a single sound is made. »
We are probably the last generation to be able to fight against climate change and its consequences therefore it is our duty to preserve our ecosystem for the next generations. In 2014, Gold of Bengal won the International Convergences Award in partnership with Kairos for its project called “The Jute Composite” . Thanks to the visibility given to the project by the Convergences Awards and connections made during the Convergences Forum, Gold of Bengal has been able to strengthen its project, and implement new projects. Today, Gold of Bengal embarked on a world tour, shipping for exchange and sharing, on a catamaran called the “Nomad of the Seas.” Through the steps of the journey, the Nomad of the Seas aims at becoming a self-sustaining ecosystem, flag of sustainable and inclusive innovation, going towards to meet inventors to discover inspiring projects.
This year the program Uniterres in France concretely shows the way food has to go through from a farm to your dish while providing assistance to vulnerable farmers, while the “Clean-Biodig” project in Vietnam shows how it is possible to improve production and limit environmental pollution. Either does the Biocorredor Martin Sagrado REDD + project in Peru, showing how a multi-actor partnership can contribute to building a model for forests management (conservation and reforestation).
Partnerships in supporting employment and health care for everyone.
Beyond promoting job creation, economic development and the reduction of poverty and inequality, the multi-actor partnerships nominated for the Convergences Awards 2016 aim to leave an economically stable and viable world for future generations and to achieve substantial progress in improving welfare, health and universal access to basic services through:
- Training and job creation for visually impaired wellness practitioners – by AlterMassage – France
- The fight against the unemployment of disabled people by the joint venture of Log’Ins Ares – France
- Access to eye care in North East India by” ERC Affordable Eye Care Solutions”,
First laureate of the Convergences Awards in 2011, Anne Roos-Weil was leading a project to improve the prevention, detection and care of minor illnesses, develop early care and attendance at community health centers in Mali in order to reduce child mortality related to minor illnesses complications.
The Convergences International Award allowed to the Pesinet association, today known as Djantoli, to be recognized by the the key actors of the development sector. This recognition and the various connections made at the 2011 Convergences World Forum have enabled the association to assert its vision and attract more attention to its project. Nowadays, Djantoli operates in two African countries (Mali and Burkina Faso) and counts 8 health centers as partners. Through this initiative more than 5 3,000 children have been monitored, 3000 mothers have benefited from awareness raising campagains, more than 120.000 medical home visits at took place, and more than 12.000 medical appointments for children were made at the health care centre.
After a day of deliberation, the laureates were announced during the “Meet the nominees! “” Night. Throughout the summer, you can discover their portraits in our articles.
Come to meet them during the Convergences World Forum, both at the Convergences Awards stand on the 5th and 6th of September at the Palais Brongniart and at the Official Awards ceremony at the Paris City Hall on September the 7th.
Again this year, the Convergences World Forum “Inventing tomorrow’s sustainable cities and territories” will be a place where the actors of the 3Zero ecosystem can meet and exchange.
Special thanks to all the projects,, jury members, Convergences Awards partners – the City of Paris and DEVEX, and the City Hall of the 9th district of Paris for its warm welcoming.