WASHINGTON, D.C., September 29, 2008 — Sub-Saharan Africa walked away with five prizes worth various amounts up to $200,000 each from the 2008 Development Marketplace. The prizes were scooped by projects in Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Ethiopia also won a prize in a joint initiative with four Latin American countries.
The Development Marketplace is a competitive grant program that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage development projects with high potential for impact and replication. This year’s theme— Sustainable Development for Agriculture—drew almost 1,800 applications. Through a rigorous assessment conducted by 200 specialists from within and outside the World Bank, the applicants were narrowed to 100 finalists who were invited to Washington, D.C. September 24-26 to present their ideas at World Bank headquarters.
The competition drew a record 35 entries from Africa. More than $4 million was awarded to the 22 winning projects from 16 countries.
This year's theme focused on sustainable agriculture.
Innovative ideas
Entries from African countries spanned the three themes of this year’s competition: linking small-scale farmers to input-output markets; improving land access and tenure to the poor; and promoting the environmental service of agriculture in addressing climate change and biodiversity.
Latin America and the Caribbean had the leading number of winners (8), followed by East Asia and Pacific (6), sub-Saharan Africa (5), and South Asia (3). Cambodia, Ecuador, Mexico, India, Vietnam and Brazil have each two winning projects.
African winners:
Nigeria: Using Cassava Waste to Raise Goats ( University Of Agriculture, Abeokuta)
Senegal: Locally Produced Bio Fuel Outboard Motor (Mission GoorGoorlu)
Tanzania: Producing Biofuel from Indigenous Non-Edible Nuts ( Africa Biofuel and Emission Reduction (TZ) Ltd)
Uganda: Renewable energy-powered milk cooler for smallholder dairy farmers ( University of Georgia)
Ethiopia: Online tracking system linking coffee farmers to markets (Pachama Coffee Cooperative, a multi-country project)
Uganda ’s winning project displayed innovative ideas to cool milk by adapting coolers in the beer-cooling technology.
“The World Bank is delighted to sponsor the Development Marketplace as a launching pad for new ideas in development,” said Katherine Sierra, Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. “ With the global community focused on the food price crisis, it is an opportunity to showcase the kind of creative thinking that can deliver tangible benefits to producers struggling with poverty in rural areas.”
Saidou Ba, prize winner from Senegal
The Senegalese project will assist farmers and fishermen from 40 communities to generate their own biofuel through a method of power transmission using unrefined seed oil straight from the cold press, thus reducing their cost to deliver products to market.
“I'm very excited about receiving the grant, but at the same time I feel like I am in a very challenging situation for accomplishing my project,” Senegal’s Saidou Ba said. “Working is not always easy.”
Innovation, risk-taking, and determination have always been essential for progress, Farida Khambata, the IFC’s Vice President for Asia, Latin America and Global Manufacturing, told the winners and runners-up during the awards ceremony.
“The International Finance Corporation is proud to support this competition as a way to nurture and foster bold ideas to create new opportunities for small farmers and rural population,” he said.
Development Marketplace winnings as seed money
With the grants as seed money, winning projects are often expanded or replicated elsewhere, winning prestigious awards within the sphere of social entrepreneurship.
Pump Aid, a 2006 winner of a $120,000 grant, secured an additional $25 million to expand water and sanitation services to reach 8 million people in Zimbabwe and Malawi over the next five years.
“The Development Marketplace is a consolidated program through which the World Bank can interact with civil society and governments experimenting with new approaches in development,” said Fayezul Choudhry, Vice President and Controller at the World Bank. “ We like to think of it as our venture capital initiative taking risks and planting the seeds for a garden of new and better ways to alleviate poverty.”
Several entrants from Africa were happy they were able to attend even if they did not win a prize.
“I feel very happy being a finalist. Being at the finals is highly motivating,” said Moses Kanduri of Ghana, who entered a project Turning Prisoners to Farmers.
“I believe that gatherings like these are very crucial especially because they open one’s eyes,” said Nduvhuno Ramalima from South Africa. He entered the project African Farming Franchise: Farming by the People.
The 2008 global marketplace was co-sponsored by the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and German development agency GTZ.
Since 1998, the Development Marketplace has awarded more than $46 million to initiatives identified through global and regional competitions.
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