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This blog is hosted by the Development Marketplace. It is a platform for debate and knowledge sharing on early stage development, innovation and social entrepreneurship. More »

Poverty Reduction

Development Marketplace in India supports the vision and ‘can-do’ spirit of social entrepreneurs

Submitted by Kirsten Spainhower on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 18:31

Satyan Mishra, founder of DrishteeDrishtee is a network of over 14,000 rural enterprises that provides villages in India with access to internet connections, consumer products and critical community services.

Brainchild of Indian national Satyan Mishra, the Drishtee model is perfecting a “last mile delivery system” to reach villages that governments are unable to.

Mishra’s success was due in part to the faith that Global Development Marketplace (DM) — a Bank sponsored partnership that provides grant funding to support testing and scaling up of innovative ideas — had in his idea. In 2003 he received a $68,100 from DM allowing him to transform a budding idea into reality and scale up into three states: Assam, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.

Disseminating Innovations in the Health Market

Submitted by Maria Belenky on Tue, 01/18/2011 - 17:36

How do you provide health care for the rural poor when medical professionals are scarce or unaffordable?

One emerging solution is to computerize medical knowledge. In 2007, Arogya Ghar captured the attention of the global health community when it was selected as one of the winners of the Development Marketplace global competition.

Development 2.0 Brought to You by Social Entrepreneurs

Submitted by Parvathi Menon on Mon, 01/03/2011 - 19:05

We traveled an hour outside of Jaipur to Laporiya village, in the Jaipur District. One of the 41353 villages across 32 Districts of Rajasthan that depends largely on agriculture and dairy for sustenance.

The total cultivated area of the state encompasses about 20 million hectares and out of this only 20% of the land is irrigated. Ground water level is available only at a depth of 30 to 61m. Yet with minimum inputs, the agricultural sector of the state accounts for 22.5 per cent of the State economy.

India DM team in Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhubaneshwar and Patna

Submitted by Parvathi Menon on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 12:11

The process for the India Development Marketplace 2011 has been designed to be highly interactive and provide several opportunities for direct engagement between your organization and the India DM team. This process was designed with a particular focus on ensuring that we can facilitate organizations to complete the application forms – as well as seek first hand insights on what would be relevant elements of the support and technical assistance needed to grow and scale sustainable social impact models over a 2 year period.

With that in mind, the Teams from Innovation Alchemy are traveling across the 3 States of Rajasthan, Bihar and Orissa (Odisha) to meet and interact with a diverse set of social enterprises who are potentially applying for the India DM 2011 grant.

India Development Marketplace 2011 – OPEN

Submitted by Parvathi Menon on Mon, 12/20/2010 - 10:49

As Process Partners for the India Development Marketplace 2011, (India DM) one of the exciting things our team at Innovation Alchemy is doing is to help seek and surface interesting Social Enterprises that are working on tough social challenges, and building sustainable models to solve them.

A rigorous assessment process with a panel of independent expert assessors and jury will help the India DM 2011 program arrive at 13 winners who will each get funded with $ 50,000 over 24 months to effectively scale their SE models.

The call for entries has just been launched on December 10th  2010 and Applications can be submitted online before 23rd January 2011. As this process moves forward we will be traveling across the Target states of Bihar, Rajasthan and Orissa to meet and engage with the social impact community – to help eligible organizations apply for the competitive grant available under the India DM. More on that soon.

Scaling Innovation: Development Marketplace & World Bank Collaborate in Nigeria

Submitted by Kolawole Adebayo on Tue, 12/14/2010 - 17:13

Now that I’ve introduced myself in my last blog, I want to tell you more about my DM2008 project called “Using cassava wastes to feed goats.” The project has created a new market linking cassava producers and goat keepers through the introduction of a simple drying technology that turns cassava waste into goat feed. As a result, the project is increasing farming incomes and reducing carbon dioxide wastes by eliminating the need to burn cassava waste.

How DM Project in India Filled Empty Water Pots

Submitted by BP Agrawal on Fri, 10/15/2010 - 13:55

BP Agrawal is a double Development Marketplace winner.  He won in 2006 with his Sustainable Rainwater Harvesting project and in 2007 with Walk-In Clinic for the Masses. This is being reposted on the occasion of Blog Action Day 2010.

Visit Sardarpura, a sleepy Indian village 150 km (93 miles) southwest of New Delhi.  Women have gathered at the village square. They are tapping empty matkas (earthen water pots) to produce melodious beats. One is humming the “lament of bride": "Dhola thare desh men, moti marvan aant.  Daroo milti mokali, paani ki koni chhant."

Oh, Beloved!
In your land
Not a drop of water 
Brides have to fetch water from miles
It is hard to survive but for your love
Thus laments a bride.

 Sudden commotion drowns the melody. Children start running in the dusty streets and yelling “Pani Aagayaa. Paani Aagayaa” (Water has come! Water has come!). Women wrapped in vibrant colors rush with their matkas resting on their waists. The water tanker had just arrived — after two weeks.
 
That is the perennial scarcity of drinking water in rural India!

Innovation Happens When Traditional Markets Fail

Submitted by Aleem Walji on Fri, 10/01/2010 - 09:29

Conversations after "Innovations in Development" PanelInnovations in development happen where traditional markets fail.  The open discussion that followed the presentation I made on Monday to nearly 100 colleagues inside and outside the World Bank Group spurred the first of what I hope are many conversations on the role the World Bank Group and others can play in supporting social entrepreneurs in the developing world

The iPod for Development

Submitted by Kirsten Spainhower on Wed, 09/29/2010 - 12:48
Photo Courtesy of Lifeline EnergyThe Lifeplayer is being billed as the new iPod for development. Kristine Pearson Lifeline Energy CEO, believes that this device will enable rural populations to leap across the digital divide and access vital information in ways they could hardly have imagined.
 
The Lifeplayer is an oversized MP3 device that can be pre-loaded to hold 64GB of educational content. It can also download audio content from the internet or record live voice or radio programs for playback later. With a wireless solar panel and a hand-wound crank, the Lifeplayer can even be used to charge mobile phones.

2010 SEED Awards Reach Out to Social Entrepreneurs

Submitted by Tom Grubisich on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 05:10

"Green"-themed social entrepreneurs are invited to compete for 35 SEED Awards that are focused on seven countries in Africa.  Winners will receive expert advice on their business plans, access to tailored workshops, and be profiled through the SEED Initiative's international network.

Start-up social and environmental entrepreneurs working in developing and emerging countries are invited to apply.  The deadline for applications is Aug. 16.  Here's how to apply. 

(Photo at right shows precious metals miner in Chocó Bioregion of Ecuador and Colombia where 2009 SEED winner Oro Verde is helping to reverse environmental degradation by promoting certified mining practices.)