New and Noteworthy

Registration for DM2007 Extended!

The registration deadline for attending the2007 Global Development Marketplacecompetition has been pushed back by two days, to May 17th. Please register here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/55718656

Come take advantage of the opportunity to meet and talk with representatives from 104 finalist projects for 42 countries around the world at the 2007 Global Development Marketplace, May 22-23. Vying for $4 million in grants, these projects bringnew and creative ways of tackling some of today’s seemingly intractable health problems faced by the poor in developing countries.

“I continue to feel humbled by the innovative new ideas that come out each year,” said Jordan Kassalow, co-founder of Scojo Foundation, which won a grant during the 2003 competition for a project training entrepreneurs to diagnose basic vision problems and sell low-cost eyeglasses in India. Today the program operates in three additional countries.

Kassalow is one of several leaders from former DM winners who will be on this year’s jury panel, among with senior development professionals.

Coming to the event to meet the project teams will expose you to the breadth of finalists’ ideas, which tackle numerous health problems from combating the spread of malaria through innovative ways of reducing mosquito populations to introducing high-technologies to remote, rural areas for use in life-threatening medical situations.You will also have the chance to vote for your favorite project to win the People’s Choice Award.

Clickhere to see a list of finalists.

Note: While the Marketplace is open to the public, we are unable to offer scholarships, visa invitation letters, or hotel accommodations for visitors.

DM Photography Exhibit Runs May 4-21

Development Marketplace exhibits photographs from 13 of its projects, winners of the program’s first-ever photography contact, in the lobby of the World Bank H Building, May 4-21. The lobby area is open to the public.

“While we could provide project evaluation reports and progress reports, we felt a visual way of telling these teams’ stories would better capture the human element of their work on the ground,” said Joyita Mukherjee, DM team leader.

Clickhereto see the winning images and read about the projects.

DM Events

Russia Development Marketplace Awards 15 Projects in the Republic of Tatarstan

Fifteen projects won grants from a DM competition held April 19-20 by the World Bank’s Russia Country Office and the government of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, the country’s a 8th largest state with a population of 3.77 million from diverse ethnic groups including Tatars, Russians and Chuvashes.

A unique area located some 800 kilometers east of Moscow, Tatarstan is a regional science and technology hub home to numerous education and scientific institutions. The DM competition tapped into that potential with a theme “Innovations for the Sustainable Development of the Republic of Tatarstan."

Awards ranged between $10,000 and $30,000 and were granted to projects addressing sub-themes such as education and inter-sectoral clusters; social and health infrastructure; environmental protection and waste processing; biotechnology and agriculture; resources and energy efficient technology; new medical equipment; and information technology.

Among the winning ideas is a chicken waste fertilizer project that uses environmentally hazardous chicken feces currently discarded from poultry farms for production of fertilizer. Another winning project, with research conducted by the Kazan Medical Academy, uses a machine that creates a graphic scheme of an image to formalize the description of X-ray diagnoses into a records library.

The event was held in Kazan, capital of Tatarstan. President of the Republic Mintimer Shaimiev and the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Boris Pavlov, attended and spoke at the event.

President Shaimiev said he made a "personal commitment" to the competition and viewed its focus on innovation as a tool to harness the creativity of the people of Tatarstan for the future of its children. The event “combined the strength of the government and the people,” he said.

World Bank Country Director for the Russian Federation Klaus Rohland also attended the competition.

For more information on the competition, visit theRussian Federation World Bank site.

Sudan, Bulgaria Close Call for Proposals

More than 500 applications were received in response to a call of proposals from the World Bank’s Sudan Country Office, which opened February 1 and closed April 22. Under the theme “Towards an Inclusive Sudanese Society,” the competition sought project proposals aiming to support recovery and reconstruction efforts through peace initiatives targeting the poor.

The Marketplace is scheduled for August 2007.

This is the second time Sudan will participate in a DM competition. In 2003, Sudan and Ethiopia jointly awarded $504,000 in grants to 41 projects with proposals under the theme “Enhancement of Community-based Ingenuity to Promote Sustainable Livelihoods.”

For more information on Sudan's 2007 competition, clickhere.

The World Bank’s Bulgaria Country Office received more than 200 applications for the country’s first ever DM competition, scheduled for the end of May.

In collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Education and Science, the competition sought proposals with ideas aiming to promote youth employment and improve the skills of labor market entrants – a big need in a country of 7.7 million that became one of the newest members of the European Union in January.

The Bulgaria DM was open to academic institutions and civil society actors including school boards, teacher/student associations, NGOs, foundations, private entities and community-based organizations. In narrowing down the finalists, preference was given to those proposals featuring solid partnerships and focused on results. The DM will grant 8 awards.

For more information click here .

Fast Fact

A child dies of malaria, a preventable and curable disease, every 30 seconds. More than one million people die of the mosquito-transmitted disease each year, mostly infants, young children and pregnant mothers-- most of them in Africa.

SOURCE:World Health Organization