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Link: http://go.worldbank.org/OYD2GAWZ10

The World Bank’s Development Marketplace (DM) today announced the selection of 100 innovative ideas to promote sustainable agriculture to compete for grant funding at the Marketplace to be held September 24-25 at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C. Since 1998, the Development Marketplace has awarded more than $46 million in grants to over 1,000 initiatives.

This year’s global competition, organized in coordination with the Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) department of the World Bank and supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other partners, focuses on sustainable agriculture. It has drawn 1,768 proposals from around the world addressing three issues: linking small-scale farmers to markets, improving land access and tenure for the poor, and addressing the challenges of climate change and biodiversity.

Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, said innovation in agriculture is one of the keys to addressing the crisis sparked by the increase in food prices. "Given today's pressing global food concerns, as evidenced at the recent World Food Security Summit in Rome, it is important that the agriculture and rural development sector forms a partnership with public and private institutions, as well as with community-based organizations, to identify and build upon innovations to meet new challenges. This year's DM global competition is an opportunity to learn from each other while we focus on inventive and timely investments in rural areas."

At the marketplace event, the finalists will be given the opportunity to present and explain their proposals to a top level jury. About one third of the contestants will receive grants of up to $200,000 to further develop their innovative ideas.

The projects originated with a range of innovators, including civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, academia and businesses all over the world. The greatest majority of the entries come from sub-Saharan Africa (41 percent), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (21 percent), East Asia and the Pacific (19 percent), South Asia (14 percent), Eastern Europe and Central Asia (3 percent) and the Middle East and North Africa (2 percent).

The Development Marketplace is a grant program that that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact at the local level. Using DM funding as a launching pad, projects often go on to scale up or replicate elsewhere, winning prestigious awards within the sphere of social entrepreneurship.

For more information, including the list of finalists, please visit
www.developmentmarketplace.org

The World Bank www.WorldBank.org
Press Release No: 2008/SDN/294; June 23, 2008
http://go.worldbank.org/OYD2GAWZ10