Recognition and reward programmes that support entrepreneurship for sustainable development

The report analyzes 10 award programmes (including the Goldman Prize, Ashoka, and Echoing Green) to understand how they support sustainable development entrepreneurs. It finds that while these programmes provide critical cash, prestige, and support services, there is a systemic lack of rigorous monitoring and evaluation regarding the long-term impact of awards and the effectiveness of scaling up and replicating successful projects.

• The longevity and growth of award programmes are strongly correlated with the commitment of the original founders or the mandate of the host institution, with most benefiting from "strong governance and ownership of the award programme".
• Award programmes provide three primary types of value to recipients: cash prizes, fame/prestige/publicity, and support services such as business plan development and PR coaching. For start-up projects, these additional support services are often viewed as more critical than the prestige of the award.
• There is a significant deficiency in how award programmes track and assess the long-term impact of their prizes. Most rely on winner self-reporting through surveys or progress reports, and "independent verification of outcomes is not a common practice".
• While scale-up and replication are cited as central to the relevance of almost all researched programmes, there is little evidence of established strategies for identifying, reporting, or promoting these outcomes. Only Ashoka and Echoing Green were found to be conducting formal impact studies with specific measures for scale-up and replication.
• Winning an award can produce negative repercussions for recipients, including political sensitivity in certain regions, personal security risks (such as kidnapping concerns related to large cash prizes), and internal organizational conflict due to jealousy over who received the award.
• Selection processes vary between public calls for applications and nomination-based systems. Programmes using public calls typically employ a multi-stage screening process to manage high volumes of applicants and ensure due diligence.

APA

Paas, L., & Creech, H. (2008). Recognition and reward programmes that support entrepreneurship for sustainable development. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_recognition_and_reward_programmes_2008.pdf

Chicago

Paas, Leslie, and Heather Creech. Recognition and reward programmes that support entrepreneurship for sustainable development. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2008. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_recognition_and_reward_programmes_2008.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Paas |first1=Leslie |last2=Creech |first2=Heather |title=Recognition and reward programmes that support entrepreneurship for sustainable development |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2008 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_recognition_and_reward_programmes_2008.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{paas2008recognition, author = {Paas, Leslie and Creech, Heather}, title = {{Recognition and reward programmes that support entrepreneurship for sustainable development}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2008}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_recognition_and_reward_programmes_2008.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }