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About ESP
The Ethiopian Seed Partnership (ESP) aims to enable the private sector in Ethiopia to deliver farming men and women high-quality seed of improved varieties much needed for food security and nutrition, and climate resilience.
ESP aims to achieve four primary outcomes:
- Private sector strengthened
- Uptake of innovations and empowerment
- Effective seed insecurity response
- Enabling transformation
In collaboration with Wageningen University & Research (WUR), the International Seed Federation (ISF) offers seed companies the opportunity to engage in public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Ethiopia via the Ethiopian Seed Partnership (ESP).
To learn more about ESP, visit the ESP site.
About the Proposed PPPs
ESP looks to establish partnerships between international seed companies, their local partners or distributors in Ethiopia (if any), and the ESP team of WUR professionals.
PPPs are designed to support international seed companies’ entry and/or growth in Ethiopia, regardless of their current presence or level of activity in the country. Through these partnerships, interested companies can enjoy support in various stages of business development, from variety testing and registration to jointly addressing sectoral challenges, enabling them to establish and expand their business in the Ethiopian market. Importantly, at the same time the PPPs contribute to the transformation of Ethiopia’s seed sector.
Within the ESP three PPP models have been designed and are offered to seed companies.
- Model 1 is “pre-competitive variety demonstrations and initial business development” which aims at companies looking to test their varieties in Ethiopia and register them with the relevant authorities, while also engage in initial business-to-business interactions.
- Model 2 is “competitive variety demonstrations and business development consolidation” which aims at companies already established in Ethiopia (as an entity or through a partner) looking to promote their varieties in Ethiopia and consolidate business development.
- Model 3 is “extensive public-private partnership” which aims at companies already established in Ethiopia (as an entity or through a partner) looking to significantly strengthen their presence with varieties in the Ethiopian seed market and/or engage or have the ambition to engage in the production of seed for the Ethiopian and/or international seed market, and through the PPP contribute to solving sectoral challenges in Ethiopia.
More information on the PPP models, on eligibility criteria and the tendering process can be found on the ESP website.
Get involved!
If you are a seed company member of ISF or a regional or national seed association, and you are interested in joining the ESP through one of the above-described PPP modalities, you can submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) here.
The deadline to submit your Expression of Interest is December 16, 2024. The submitted Expressions of Interest will be evaluated against defined criteria by a selection committee and you will be informed by January 17, 2025 about whether or not your Expression of Interest has been selected for follow-up. You can find more information on the evaluation and selection criteria as well as on the next steps of the process on the ESP website.
Contact persons:
- Mohammed Hassena-ESP Project Manager, Stichting Wageningen Research (SWR) Ethiopia: mohammed.hassena.swr@gmail.com
- Johann Bonnand-seed advisor, Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), Wageningen University & Research (WUR): johann.bonnand@wur.nl
- Szonja Csörgő – IP & Legal Affairs Manager, ISF, s.csorgo@worldseed.org
