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World Bank launches Nepal Development Marketplace

The Nepal office of the World Bank (WB) has launched 'Nepal Development Marketplace (NDM) 2005' with a view to promote innovative grassroots level projects in the conflict-affected areas of the country.

Launching the programme amidst a function in the capital Friday, country director of the World Bank in Nepal, Ken Ohashi, said the programme aimed at promoting partnership with creative NGOs and other groups and support them in innovation.
"The idea is to sponsor some development activities especially in areas where conflict has posed difficulties," said Ohashi. "The World bank is often seen as too big an organization. But we need to work effectively with small actors, which are the real actors," he added.
Under the NDM, the World Bank has called for proposals from the NGOs, Community-based organizations, academic institutions etc. under the theme, 'Delivering Basic Services in Conflict Affected Areas.' The programme will support innovations in providing and improving basic services to rural populations affected by the conflict, the WB officials said.
According to Rajiv Upadhya, senior external affairs specialist of the World Bank country office in Kathmandu, proposals have been invited in the areas of health, education, water and sanitation, agriculture, infrastructure, energy and information and communication technologies (ICTs), among others.
"The Bank has set aside the seed money of USD 100,000 to begin with and hopes to raise the kitty to 400,000 dollars (in partnership with other agencies) in the following years," he said. The Bank has said it will offer up to Rs 1.4 million to innovative projects to be completed within a year.
Addressing the function, Communications Manager of the World Bank for South Asia, Dale Lautenbach, said that the World Bank had launched the Development Marketplace in 1998 as an internal competition for Bank staff. The global marketplace continued to grow with 2,700 entries in 2003, she said.
Last year, three of the 47 winning teams were from Nepal. The proposal to keep 150 threatened Asiatic wild water buffalo at the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve safe and introduction of mobile library using the traditional 'doko' to distribute reading materials in rural areas were among the successful Nepali proposals.
Responding to a question if the Maoists' decree of 'donating' certain percentage of the project money to them would hamper the programme, WB's country director in Nepal, Ken Ohashi, said, "Our charter is to deal with the country through the executive branch."
"We hope that through this process we can identify works that are implementable despite widespread practice of demanding certain percentage," he said.
Noted gyanecologist Dr Bhola Rijal, industrialist Rajendra Khetan and TV personality, Rama Singh, among others, have contributed as 'brand ambassadors' of the programme under the theme, "Please, Let's finally do something now." nepalnews.com by Oct 29 04