New and Noteworthy

DM Welcomes Its Newest 22 Projects

Twenty two projects addressing health, nutrition and population in 13 developing countries won grants from a $4 million award pool co-funded by the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at the 2007 Global Development Marketplace, May 22-23.

Educating deaf youth about sex and HIV in Vietnam, creating a network of secondary health science schools in Southern Sudan and deploying novel mosquito traps to suppress dengue fever transmission in Brazil are among the winning ideas. Using DM funds, they will now have up to two years to carry out their projects and bring concrete benefits to local communities.

“We believe fundamentally that this is one of the breeding ground for some of the best and brightest ideas in development today,” said Joe Cerrell, director for Global Health Advocacy at the Gates Foundation, who served as one of 32 jurors for the competition. “This is an area where the foundation can really make a good investment in spawning some of the innovative concepts and initiatives that you can’t find in any other place.”

Vying for grants were 104 finalists, who displayed their booths at World Bank headquarters for staff and visiting public.

Most of this year’s winning projects are carried out by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), such as the New Sudan Initiative, which will create five health science secondary schools in Southern Sudan in an effort to jump-start a nearly collapsed health sector.

“Peace only came to southern Sudan in 2005,” said project leader Abraham Awolich. “There are basically zero health posts in some of the communities. For us to build the health care infrastructure, we have to begin with human resources.”

Most winners feature partnerships between an NGO and local government (such as a  Zambia project treating acute malnutrition through outpatient care), or an NGO and academia (such as in Haiti, where the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Haitian NGO will create micro-enterprises specializing in the production and sale of affordable, clean-burning cooking charcoal made from agricultural waste ). But among the winners are also a number of private businesses.

Since it started in 1998, DM has awarded some $45 million to more than 1,000 projects through global and country-level competitions.

To learn more about this year's Marketplace, visit the  competition homepage and access the DM blog, which reported live during two-day event. Here you can also watch video interviews with finalists, winners and jurors.

IFC Exhibits DM Photos

A collection of 37 photographs from DM projects as far back as 2000 are on exhibit in the lobby of the International Finance Corporation building in Washington. The exhibit will be up throughl July 5.

The images represent a selection of photos from the winners of this year's DM photography contest. Click here to learn more.

Project Spotlight

Solar Power for Rural Laos

Ban Heung, LAOS -- This area, a cluster of three tiny villages along the Sekong River hours from the closest road, is home to a DM project bringing solar power to communities that have never had electricity before.

Sunlabob Rural Energy Systems began its work in 2000 as a supplier of solar panels and electricity equipment to corporate customers and development projects working in areas not covered by the national power network. But, with 60 percent of the country living off the grid, the project team quickly realized that the household market for reliable electricity services in rural areas of Laos was far greater than the commercial operations and development projects.

“We saw that families easily spent $3 to $5 or even more per month on poor and inefficient lighting and basic electricity supply,” said Andy Schroeter, project team leader, referring to kerosene lighting. “What we could offer was lighting and other electricity services at similar or lower costs than before but at much better quality and reliability. Most importantly, the service was commercially viable and could be extended to all households and villages which were interested.”

Buying Sunlabob’s solar system would cost $500 or more – a price unaffordable to poor villagers. So the company devised a franchise model that leases the solar systems to households or groups of households. This makes the equipment affordable to poor clients and generates employment for the franchisees, who earn commissions from leasing fees and are trained as technicians to market, install and repair the systems.

In 2005, Sunlabob won $150,000 from the DM to cover the cost of 120 solar equipment units and train franchisees in one province. But the project has taken off: today it operates more than 3,400 household systems supported by 17 franchises in eight of Laos' 17 provinces.

By leasing to groups rather than individuals, the project spreads the benefit and electricity and lowers the monthly rental fees to $3-$5 among several people. Now children can study in the evening and workers can extend their productive hours. For some the social benefit is even more valuable.

“A real benefit is that I can invite guests for dinner in a nice and bright environment,” says Mrs. Noi, the owner of a 100 Watt panel, speaking of her joy at being able to open her home to neighbors to come and watch videos.

Villagers also have said that they feel safer walking around at night. And services like health clinics have improved and are more capable of serving patients.

In Ban Guoay, in Sangthong district, a five-bed clinic was constructed in 2003. Doctor Sonexay said the clinic could not exist without solar power, since vital medical supplies could not be stored without proper cooling facilities. The clinic’s 200 Watt peak solar panel generates the needed power supply and area residents from four surrounding villages can now get immediate treatment without making the two to three hour car ride to Vientiane.

As the DM grant kicked in, Sunlabob also introduced a new product line: piped water supply. Two villages are testing this, while a few others are testing a solar-powered water pump irrigation system. In yet another village, Sunlabob recently installed a small power generation unit that combines solar power with hydropower from a nearby stream in order to increase the electricity capacity.

Last year Sunlabob was a finalist for BBC’s Global Challenge 2006 Award. Earlier this year, the company was short-listed for the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy.

To learn more, visit http://www.sunlabob.com/

DM Events

Bulgaria, Ecuador, India Hold DM Competitions

May and June marked a busy time for country-level DM competitions. Bulgaria  named eight winners on May 28, while  India  and  Ecuador each awarded 11 grants on May 28-29 and June 8, respectively.

Bulgaria DM Awards $160,000 to Eight Projects

Bulgaria's first-ever DM competition awarded $20,000 to each of its eight winners on May 28. Fifteen finalists – out of a total pool of more than 200 applicants from 50 villages around the country -- vied for funding in the last round of the competition.

A partnership between the World Bank's Sofia Office and the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science, the competition sought project ideas aiming to promote youth employment and improve the skills of labor market entrants. The competition was open to academic institutions and civil society actors including school boards, teacher/student associations, NGOs, foundations, private entities and community-based organizations.

"It is widely recognized that investments in education and skills, particular for the young, is the most important investment for Bulgaria to catch up with its European neighbors," said Florian Fichtl, World Bank country manager for Bulgaria, which joined the European Union this January.

"We are happy that the World Bank - through the Development Marketplace initiative - engaged the business, government and civil societies with this agenda," he added.

Six of the awards were sponsored by the Bank (including a Small Grants Program award) ands two were sponsored by the Bulgarian private sector. The final round of the competition, followed by the award ceremony, attracted huge media and public interest. A famous TV anchor and a popular singer took part in the event, which was hosted by the biggest and oldest university in the country, University St. Kliment Ohridski in Sofia.

Ecuador DM Awards $108,000 to 11 Projects

The Ecuador Marketplace – held in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation on June 8 – awarded over $108,000 in grant funding to 11 innovative projects.

The initiative focused on funding projects supporting youth engagement in productive activities. Nineteen projects were selected as finalists, all of who attended the final round of the competition in Quito.

A finalist at Ecuador's DM competition talks to jurors.

Among the winning projects is an initiative from a technical college that will produce and provide simple water purification systems to some 1,500 schools attended by 50,000 children between the ages of 2 and 15, aiming to reduce water-borne illness.

Another winning project is creating employment for 43 disabled youth in the Loja province through artisan and craft-making training. The Ecuador DM gave special consideration to projects that fit sub-themes such as youth with disabilities.

The Marketplace was well attended by the public and media. Roughly 500 visitors chatted with finalists, while reporters from national newspapers like El Comercio and Diario Hoy – as well as television and radio stations – featured the finalists and winners.

Acting Manager for the World Bank Ecuador Country Office Pilar Larreamendy spoke at the event. So did Mercedes Borrero from the UN Populations Agency and Suzanne Muller from the Swiss Cooperation Agency. Swiss Ambassador Marcus Alexander Antonietti participated in the award ceremony.

For more information, visit http://www.bancomundial.org.ec

India's Competition Draws Thousands of Applicants; Awarded 20

India’s Development Marketplace competition, held May 28-29, awarded 20 grants of $20,000 each to innovative projects addressing the theme “Grassroots Innovations for the Protection and Management of Natural Resources.”

Inaugurating the Marketplace, H. E. Dr. Abdul Kalam, the president of India, said: "My interest to participate in this meet arises from the focus of the program towards sustainable rural development in India."

The winners were chosen among 50 finalists who participated in the two day event in Delhi. They were narrowed down from a larger pool of some 2,500 applicants.

Other projects advocate for the promotion of an affordable, eco-friendly bamboo-based household biogas plant and the setting up of social incentives for undertaking water quality monitoring and surveillance of water sources. Click here for a list of all the winners.

This is India's second DM competition. The first, held in 2004, addressed a theme of innovations in bringing services to the rural poor.

Praful Patel, the World Bank's regional vice president for South Asia, complemented the creativity in evidence in many spheres in India saying, "The dynamism we see in India today is largely due to the efforts of a new generation of creative thinkers and doers."

"And, as we have seen today, there are many more innovative thinkers whose out- of- the- box thinking can lead to simple and creative solutions to the world’s growing environmental challenges," he added.

Highlighting the diversity of regions represented in the competition, Isabel Guerrero, World Bank country director for India said, "It is an honor for us to be able to host fifty social entrepreneurs who have come from almost every state in the country, bringing in different ideas to improve the quality of life by protecting natural resources."

The competition raised some $630,000 from partners including the Asian Development Bank, DFID, the International Finance Corporation and India's Ministry of Environment and Forests among others.

For more information, read the India DM blog, which followed the event live.

Fast Fact

Around 1.6 billion people in developing countries lack access to adequate energy services. Some 80 percent live in rural areas, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

SOURCE: International Energy Agency