[Berlin/Mossuril] The women's cooperative SHINE, a project supported by Breaking the Ice and the Teran Foundation has been shortlisted by SEED, the pre-eminent initiative working at grassroots level to direct tailor-made capacity building and networking support to selected social and environmental entrepreneurs.

According to Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UN Environment Programme (UNEP), "SEED Award winners are SHINEing examples of what can be achieved with very little in terms of funds but an extraordinary amount of intelligent management, hard work and by SHINEing a fresh lens on persistent and emerging challenges" (emphasis by SHINE - we couldn't resist).

Much work is still to do until SHINE will - hopefully - win the award in autumn. "The nomination could not have come at a better time", says Breaking the Ice Managing Director Torsten Sewing, "it will give the women an additional boost and focus on to strategy and business planning as well as on to the soap production itself. To that respect, SHINE is still looking for a soapmaking expert to help with various issues around soapmaking. So please contact us if you know someone who might be interested to volunteer."

About:

The SEED Initiative is a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the green economy.

Founded by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, SEED supports innovative small-scale and locally driven entrepreneurs around the globe who integrate social and environmental benefits into their business model from the outset.

SHINE is a soap-cooperative founded in 2013 by seven women in Nampula province, Mozambique. They have collected and re-planted thousands of jatropha and aloe vera plants on a piece of land donated by the Teran Foundation. From November 2013 to January 2014, Breaking the Ice has held a crowdfunder and raised more than 5,500 USD, to buy professional hardware for soap production, such as an oil press. Currently, work is on to install electricity into the future soap workshop, a building under renovation that had been given to the Teran Foundation by the catholic church.

Breaking the Ice is a civil society organisation working towards a "peace economy" with a current advocacy focus on "hand washing with soap" to fight diarrhea, the biggest killer of children worldwide. A TV-drama (A soap about soap) with radio adaption and interactive youTube-channels will deliver the scalability of SHINE and introduce a creative commons brand as a strong lever towards behavior change.