CGIAR photo -A Development Marketplace visitor sticks his vote for the People's Choice Award by the booth of the "Environment Radio Soap Opera for Rural Vietnam" project

In our university’s project development committee, one of our tasks is to scan the environment for funding opportunities and relay the information to various units. A great funding opportunity presented itself when the World Bank Development Marketplace Team has announced on Jan. 22 that the 2008 Global Development Marketplace (DM2008) competition began its search for early-stage, innovative ideas with potential for high impact in promoting Sustainable Agriculture for Development.

Proposals are welcome from all innovators: civil society groups, foundations and development agencies in the country of implementation can submit their ideas. Other applicants – individuals, government entities and businesses – can also apply, but only if they work with a local partner.

DM2008 is specifically focused on the agricultural challenges related to:
· linking small-scale farmers to input and product markets;
· improving land access and tenure for poor farmers; and
· promoting the environmental services of agriculture in addressing climate change and biodiversity conservation.

A total of US$4 million in awards is available, with a maximum award size of US$200,000 per project. The call for proposals closes on March 21, 2008 (23:00 GMT time). Applications will undergo a rigorous review drawing on hundreds of development experts, who will narrow down the pool of finalists to about 100 finalists.

The DM will then bring the finalists to Washington DC for the Marketplace event on September 24-25, 2008. Finalists will participate in knowledge exchange workshops and will present their ideas to the public, World Bank staff and an international jury comprised of senior development specialists. Some 25-30 winners will be announced at the close of the Marketplace.

Proposals must be written in English and submitted through the DM website, www.developmentmarketplace.org. Competition guidelines and step-by-step instructions are available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Having been there and done that, having won the DM2005 award, here’s my advice to interested readers. The jurors will look for innovative, practical ideas that have a high potential for impact. As in most prestigious awards, the project proposal which aims to provide the greatest good for the greatest number stands a better chance of winning. Here, quantification is essential so you need to specify how many persons will benefit from your project. You may wax lyrical about measuring impact using a qualitative approach such as “most significant change” but in the end donors still prefer to work with numbers. So if you’re thinking that your village extension project that will benefit 200 residents might be good enough, think again. Surely the World Bank development marketplace prize is best given to a project that has a wider mileage.

Check out the application guidelines and download the form from the DM website. At the finals, your project poster must be compelling and you must be able to demonstrate to the jurors your confidence in your project’s impact. In the final proposal, you will also need to reflect the amount of matching funds or counterpart resources from partner organizations that will be involved in your project.