Our Mission

“SEED aspires to see a genuinely inclusive Bermuda, a Bermuda which is affordable for everyone, where everyone has access to quality education and employment and where the island’s current economic crisis, financial hardship and pervasive poverty are but a distant memory.  We wish to create vibrant, healthy, well-connected communities across the island, communities of island residents who are engaged socially, economically, culturally and intellectually, and where our people enjoy adequate freedoms to live self-directed lives in pursuit of their highest ambitions.”

Our work

SEED is the island’s most trusted source of economic, social and environmental research. We seek to advance public understanding of Bermuda’s sustainable development by producing and widely disseminating such new knowledge as follows:

Producing In-house SEED Research
SEED conducts our own high-quality, independent studies and analyses of issues relevant to the island’s social, economic and environmental well-being.
Co-opting External Research
SEED enhances our research capacities through our extensive network of external academics, scientists and investment and policy analysts who produce commissioned studies on a broad array of subjects.
Promoting Public Awareness
SEED creates and sustains the public forums needed for the exchange of ideas through our sponsorship of such activities as town hall meetings, presentations, lectures, workshops and public debates in addition to our digital media presence.
Policy Advocacy Campaigning
SEED influences Bermuda’s public policy formation through the lobbying of legislative and regulatory officials.  We inform, engage and empower the Bermudian people with knowledge needed to give greater voice to advocacy of their own.
Sustainable Development Planning

Working with the Bermuda public, SEED aspires to develop a common vision of our sustainable future that enjoys broad-based community support.  We provide the high-level, strategic thinking needed to help shape a more holistic planning and development process.  We will monitor and evaluate objectively measured progress towards sustainable development goals.

Consensus Opinion Development
SEED identifies the special interests needed to form coalitions with other public interest groups to advocate for such plans and build the consensus needed for implementation of the most crucial, time-dependent solutions.
First Public Presentation - July 2019
In July 2019, SEED offered our first public event at BUEI, entitled “Building an Economic Roadmap to Bermuda’s Future.”  The presentation introduced SEED’s research exposing the root causes of our crisis: poorly formulated economic policy changes that were implemented and subsequently embraced by a series of Bermuda Governments.

We demonstrated that reversing these policy errors affords Bermuda a unique opportunity of implementing a significant economic stimulus while avoiding the additional fiscal expenditures which would result in even greater government debt. The additional fiscal demands imposed on the Bermuda Government by the Covid-19 crisis only make these stimulative measures even more urgent.

Why we do
what we do

At its core, advocacy of evidence-based policymaking seeks to advance the ideals of truth, justice, equality and progress. 

Truth

The work of evidence-based researchers and policy analysts is fundamentally about truth.  They seek to ensure public policymaking is informed by accurate, verifiable and reproducible data.  Their work safeguards transparency as they shine an impartial light on people’s daily lives and bring surprising or previously unknown details to public attention.

Justice

Throughout human history, an elite ruling class has dominated society by constructing and maintaining systems of power and control. In order to mount effective challenges to the status quo, these oppressive systems have to be acknowledged and exposed. Accurate information and insightful analyses are potent weapons in the millennia-long struggle for social justice. 

Equality

SEED does not offer the disingenuous promise of an equality of outcome. Rather than equality of outcome, evidence-based policymaking seeks to create equality of opportunity.  Access to quality education and health care, or to jobs paying decent wages and benefits, or to the kinds of public amenities needed for a significantly enhanced quality of life available to all, these are the types of equal opportunity SEED seeks to ensure.

Progress

In order to improve the effectiveness of policies and programmes or create greater efficiencies through better planning and development, we first need to take stock of where we are now; what is working and what isn’t working today? SEED’s analysis and conclusions bring cogent solutions to the real world problems we see and experience in our daily lives. At its core, the work of evidence-based policymaking is in service to human progress. 

Governance

Think tanks play a vital role in the communities they serve in producing and widely disseminating new knowledge. A think tank’s governing structure is critical to providing the sophisticated services needed to adequately fulfill this role and is of crucial importance to its longevity and effectiveness.  

Board of Directors

  • Strategic planning
  • Budget
  • Fundraising
  • Management Oversight
  • Annual audit

Executive Board

  • Research
  • Management & Administration
  • Finance & Accounting
  • Communications & Marketing
  • Political & Regulatory Lobbying
  • Systems & Operations
  • Recruitment & Membership

Advisory Board

  • Advise on research strategy
  • Monitor quality of research & communications
  • Domestic and international academics, technical experts, and members of NGOs

Funding

Think tanks inherently are not financially self-sustaining.  For the majority of their revenues, think tanks require funding from non-users and non-target audiences.  Indeed, this is why the vast majority of think tanks are established as charities.

SEED gratefully receives grants and financial contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations who are supportive of our aims and ambitions.

Partners

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FAQ’s

It would appear SEED Bermuda’s agenda could be translated readily into an attractive political party platform. Does SEED Bermuda have any political ambitions?

We are acutely aware that if SEED Bermuda were to form a political party, it would be the end of SEED Bermuda as a research, advocacy and public opinion influencing organisation and we believe that would be a great loss to Bermuda.  We think SEED Bermuda fills a genuine need for an organisation providing trusted, independent, non-partisan research to better inform public opinion and policymaking on the island.

So while SEED Bermuda’s activities are inherently political, you will remain strictly non-partisan?

Yes, quite apart from the particulars of Bermuda’s politics, we have some members who are politically conservative and others who are really quite liberal. If our research and the public positions we adopt are to be ideologically as neutral as possible, it is critically important we maintain this diversity.

We would like to have a positive impact on the island’s politics.  We think there is a need for a non-partisan, neutral space in Bermuda where supporters of both political parties can come together to learn and exchange ideas regarding Bermuda’s developmental challenges and opportunities.  We believe this can only be good for Bermuda as a whole and over time will have a positive influence in strengthening both Bermuda’s political parties.

Bermuda First and other similar groups in the past have worked on developing strategic plans for Bermuda. How does SEED Bermuda’s work differ from theirs?

The work of SEED Bermuda is fundamentally different from Bermuda First’s and the work of others.  In order not to waste resources in duplicating others’ work, one of our first tasks was determining where our efforts needed to be concentrated for maximum effect and what makes our contribution unique.

Bermuda First have identified key areas to focus on as vital to Bermuda’s strategic planning.  Economic Diversification, Education, Healthcare, International Business, Training and Vocational Skills, Infrastructure and Tourism – these are areas typically seen in strategic plans and the work of Bermuda First is a great improvement over the island’s previous attempt at strategic planning in 2009.

However, one of the differences between ourselves and Bermuda First is our diagnosis of the macroeconomic and urban economic policy mistakes which in our view are root causes of the crisis.  Without acknowledging these policy errors, it is not possible to understand the depth of our economic problems and recognise the structural changes needed to address them. 

What is SEED Bermuda proposing when it comes to an urban renewal programme?

SEED Bermuda’s urban analysis identifies land use and development mistakes we’ve made across the length of the island which have had a debilitating effect on Bermuda in a range of areas.  The mistakes we’ve made in our land use have had an enormous negative impact on our economic growth, cost of living, physical health, social inclusion, traffic congestion, energy efficiency and general quality of life.  Correcting these mistakes will go a long way to solving seemingly intractable problems we’ve created for ourselves in multiple areas.

Land is the one commodity we have least of so it’s vital to our economic, social and environmental health we develop it wisely.  Intelligent urban design is increasingly viewed as critical to the successful execution of sustainable development strategies by nations globally.  Comprehensive island-wide planning focusing on intelligent urban development and innovative public transportation solutions offers Bermuda a unique opportunity to address our sustainability challenges.  It’s a potential game changer that could provide the island with the centre piece of a long term, multi-decade, high-return investment programme.

Will SEED endorse a political party or political candidate?

No, such activity is expressly prohibited in our articles of association and as a registered charity we are prohibited in our articles of association.  While we obviously aim to influence public policymaking, endorsing candidates or political parties would engage SEED Bermuda in Bermuda’s political process to far too great a degree.

What were some of the other motivations in forming SEED Bermuda?

Our principle ambitions include not only having good relations with both Bermuda’s political parties but actively engaging the public in Bermuda’s long-term planning and formation of development goals.  “Inform, Engage and Empower” is not just a slogan for us.  Community outreach and public engagement is very important to what we do.  The voices of ordinary Bermudians and those who call Bermuda their home need to be heard in determining the future direction of the country.

As in many other countries presently, many people in Bermuda feel neither party has governed the island particularly well.  It’s not just the failure of both parties to successfully deal with our economic crisis since 2008.  Politicians in both parties seem to lose sight of the concerns of the voter once they are elected and, when new administrations come to power, election promises seem to quickly fade from the country’s agenda.

Many Bermudians have failed to participate in the prosperity and success of the island’s burgeoning finance sector. How will Bermudians benefit from SEED Bermuda’s initiatives?

SEED Bermuda would like to see concrete actions by our policymakers that rebalance our economic development away from finance.  Not all Bermudians have the skills to work in finance and we need to actively nurture greater diversification of the economy so we are not so heavily reliant on the fortunes of finance.

Moreover, the BMA and our Government need to strengthen oversight of our local finance sector to ensure these companies are adequately fulfilling their vital growth-enhancing role in facilitating the growth of the rest of our economy.  BELCO is expected to produce electricity and our finance companies are expected to fund the island’s economic growth.  That’s a responsibility they inherently accept in being granted licenses to operate.

How diverse is the membership of SEED Bermuda regarding political party affiliation?

We aim to have a membership that reflects the diversity of the island as a whole and an important part of that diversity includes political party affiliation.  From our inception in forming SEED Bermuda, we had members who were associated with both political parties.  At times, it can make for more challenging discussions internally, but we value these discussions as they make our decision making and public communications much more effective.

Because of our diversity, we are more aware of competing needs, concerns and aspirations amongst varying constituencies on the island and we can better balance these in crafting positions which generate a broad consensus of support externally.  We see consensus opinion development on the island as a very important contribution to make.

What are some of the benefits of actively engaging the Bermuda public in the island’s long-term development planning?

Crafting long term developmental goals and aspirations for the island and identifying the principles and practices to be embraced in our development that enjoy broad-based community support should give Bermuda greater continuity, stability and productivity in our development.

Of course, the political parties will still have their differences.  That is not to say they will govern in exactly the same way, but a common vision of where Bermuda is headed will give the island greater stability and is important in forging a sense of national unity and common purpose.  To this degree, we view the work of SEED Bermuda as very much independent of Bermuda’s electoral cycle.

What does SEED Bermuda mean by “investing in ourselves again?”

This is a common problem throughout the Caribbean.  Islanders are typically persuaded the only factors they have to contribute to their economic development are the sun, sea, sand and their labour.  For good entrepreneurial ideas, investment capital and managerial expertise the people of the Caribbean, much like ourselves, are repeatedly told they need to make themselves more open to foreign investment.  Some have suggested islanders are being coerced into supplanting their colonial history of yesterday for the anonymous rule of global capital today.

Bermudians need to reassert our inalienable right to economic self-determination.  We need to adopt the appropriate economic policies and reform of the island’s financial sector necessary to provide the competitively priced services needed to facilitate Bermudians investing in themselves again.  This is how Bermuda was developed in the island’s heyday and this is what fundamentally is needed to end our current crisis today.

How do SEED Bermuda’s initiatives refocus our policymaking attention towards the island’s non-financial sector, to those companies hiring most of our Bermudians?

In addition to better oversight ensuring our local financial sector is supportive of growth in the rest of our economy, SEED Bermuda initiatives will support this refocusing through our programme of urban renewal.  Urban redevelopment that includes significant residential living in our urban areas will be highly stimulative for our economy, particularly for our non-financial corporate sector which predominantly employs Bermudians.

People who live in cities spend more in the economy.  This is partly because everything is so much more accessible.  But quite naturally, people who choose to live in cities are looking to enjoy the amenities cities have to offer.  This is why they are attracted to urban living.

And much of this activity is provided by non-financial corporations.  One of the distinguishing features of Bermuda’s local market, those corporations historically subject to Bermuda’s 60/40 regulation, is they are providing goods and services to people who are resident on the island.  Companies providing goods and services to residents in revitalised urban centres in Bermuda will be predominantly local companies employing lots of Bermudians.  The return of urban residential living in Bermuda will lead naturally to a rebalancing of the economy towards local Bermudian companies.