Jpm5000000pmSun, 06 May 2007 20:08:11 +000007 21, 2007
What is Development Marketplace (DM)?
The Development Marketplace (DM) came to be in 1998 when the World Bank wanted “…an internally focused exercise to provide an alternative outlet for World Bank staff to change the decision-making culture, encourage risk-taking, and shorten project development and delivery time.” DM was allocated $5 million to start the programs, and recieve an overwhelming response from the global community. With its grant, the DM disburses money to certain groups that present feasible solutions to sustainable development or to combat HIV/AIDS. The issues may vary significantly, but the purpose is to help the poor nations develop. Interested groups are required to submit proposals of their initiatives. Development experts within the World Bank then analyzes the various proposals and decide on which groups to give the grants to. In this way, the DM is involving grassroots participation, not just outsiders attempting to alleviate a country’s developmental problems. In other words,
“the Development Marketplace program operates at two levels: global and country. In both cases, DM uses a transparent process to surface innovations that address development challenges at the community level. DM competitions are designed to attract ideas from a range of innovators; civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, foundations, academia, and private sector corporations, as well as staff from the World Bank and other donor organizations. It draws together people and institutions with varied affiliations and objectives to work in partnerships to find innovative development solutions.”
I think this is a very intelligent move by the World Bank. States are not simply given money and allowed to do whatever they please with it. Since countries must submit policy proposals and ideas of implementation, the money that the winning countries acheive are going toward a legit cause. Although this may appear to some as the Global North exerting its influence on the Global South, it is an extremely credible way of overseeing development and countries’ implementation. They must follow through, because they already have the funds to do so. I think it’s an incentive for countries to devise viable plans of development, because they get money for it. The World Bank and the global community benefit from this as well, because the World Bank is then able to evaluate such developmenal strategies and if successful, implement them in other parts of the world. As for the global community, everyone benefits when others develop, because they will eventually add to the overall growth of the world.
