The World Bank has invited project ideas for providing clean water, sanitation and energy to local communities in developing countries with a 4 million US dollar (24 mio. DKR) prize for winners, reports the Banks press review Tuesday.
Entitled, “Innovation in Water, Sanitation, and Energy Services for Poor People,” this years Development Marketplace competition seeks proposals for local, small-scale projects with the potential to be scaled up.
The winners will be selected by an international jury of World Bank and independent development experts. Previous winning projects include building children’s merry-go-rounds that doubled as village water-pumps in South Africa, re-using mosque water to irrigate dry fields in Yemen and constructing portable solar energy generators for remote Laotian households to rent.
The competition is open to all civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, youth organizations, private foundations, academia, and private sector corporations with unique ideas that may not attract funding from traditional sources of finance.
The maximum award will be 200.000 dollar (1,2 mio. DKR) per proposal. – Ensuring all people have access to basic services is at the heart of development, said World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz.
The program has awarded nearly 34 million dollar to roughly 800 small-scale projects over the last seven years. Last years Development Marketplace awarded 4 million dollar in grants and attracted 2.638 proposals from 136 countries.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
