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VOICE ONE:
I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS from VOA Special English.Today, we tell about a World Bank program that supports people withnew ways to solve social problems. It is called the DevelopmentMarketplace. The World Bank program identifies and pays for the bestideas in development.
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VOICE ONE:
Many people around the world are trying to create new kinds ofbusinesses. They often are called entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs arepeople who organize, build and support their individual businessproposals. They may have ideas about new products that the world hasnever seen. Or, they may have ideas about new ways to do business.
VOICE TWO:
Social entrepreneurs are similar to business entrepreneurs.However, social entrepreneurs try to improve conditions in theircommunities. They organize, build, and support new and creativeprograms. Their goal is to improve people’s lives. Their work isvery important. Usually, social entrepreneurs do not receive muchsupport for their work. However, the World Bank is trying to changethis. The bank recognizes the need for social entrepreneurs and hasdeveloped a special program to offer them support.
About every eighteen months, theWorld Bank brings together social entrepreneurs in a friendlycompetition called the Development Marketplace. During the gatheringin Washington D-C, competitors are able to explain their ideas togroups that can provide financial and technical support. At the endof the two-day competition, winners are given start-up money tocarry out their plans within one year.
VOICE ONE:
The World Bank competition serves as a chance for the developmentcommunity to share ideas. Non-governmental organizations, aidgroups, government agencies, educators and private companies areable to discuss new ways to solve social problems.
Anyone can compete in the Development Marketplace. The onlyrequirement is that their idea be creative, designed to changepeople’s lives, and help end poverty. Also, other people must beable to copy the idea in their own communities. A group of judgesfrom the World Bank and other organizations chooses the winners.
VOICE TWO:
One-hundred-eighty-three social entrepreneurs were in Washingtonearlier this month for this year’s Development Marketplace. Theycame from sixty-three countries. Each competitor offered an idea inone of twelve areas. These included agricultural development, civilsociety and social protection, disabilities, education, energy andtransportation, and the environment. There were also ideas forimproved health and nutrition, H-I-V and AIDS, information andcommunication technologies, small and medium-size businessdevelopment, financing, and clean water. The main message of thisyear’s Development Marketplace was “Making Services Work for PoorPeople.”
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VOICE ONE:
Each social entrepreneur competing at the Development Marketplaceoffered a creative approach to easing world poverty. For example,Peter Clark was hoping to receive money to pay for a video educationprogram in Afghanistan. He and Shahzad Ahmed (Shah-ZAD AH-med) workfor a not-for-profit group called ARCA Associates. The groupbelieves that people learn best with tools that relate to their ownlife experiences, such as videos.
ARCA was seeking money to create a series of videos for Afghaniwomen and girls. These would be used to teach females about theimportant part they play in Afghanistan’s growth and development.
VOICE TWO:
Although ARCA’s proposal did not win money at the DevelopmentMarketplace, an environmental plan from Vietnam did. Tran Triet(Tran Trit) is a professor at the national university in Ho Chi MinhCity. He hopes to save a special wetland area in southwest Ha Tien,Vietnam. Money from the World Bank will be used to teach farmers howto harvest grass from the wetland without harming the environment.
Currently, the Vietnam government wants to use the wetland areafor rice farming. However, Mister Tran says this is a bad ideabecause the soil contains too much acid. Instead, he says farmersshould protect the wetland and harvest its grass from year to year.
VOICE ONE:
Such sustainable harvesting will also protect the home ofVietnam’s sarus crane. This long-legged bird is at risk of dying outcompletely. The sarus crane is also an important sign of the ethnicKhmer Buddhists living in Ha Tien.
Mister Tran believes the Khmer population can use the wetlandgrass to create hand-made hats and containers. He says the productswill be sold in markets in Ho Chi Minh City. About two-hundred Khmerfamilies live near the Ha Tien wetlands. Mister Tran says hisprogram will improve their economic situation as well as protect theenvironment.
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VOICE TWO:
Another winning proposal is for growing chili pepper plants forconservation and development in Zimbabwe. This project supports theproduction of chili peppers in the Zambezi Valley as a way toprotect farmers from invasion of their land by elephants. Inaddition, the chili crop will create a new valuable export productfor the farmers.
Another winning project is from Brazil. This project seeks tohelp poor young people whose parents had died of AIDS. It helps finduseful jobs for these AIDS orphans.
In Nepal, a proposal for the Doko Dai Mobile Library also is awinner in the Development Marketplace. This project seeks to teachchildren to read and write. It also increases jobs for adults whotake books and educational materials to communities in mountainousareas.
Another Development Marketplace winner is from the Philippines.It is a project called the Hilwai Rehabilitation Boat for DisabledPersons. This project will build a boat and sail to far-away islandsto help people with disabilities who cannot get health services.
VOICE ONE:
Perhaps the most interesting idea to win money at the DevelopmentMarketplace comes from Tanzania. Researchers at the Sokoine(so-ko-EE-nee) University of Agriculture are training rats toidentify tuberculosis. Usually, health officials in developingnations use a microscopic test to identify the disease. Expertsexamine liquid from a patient’s mouth under a microscope.
They try to identify cells infected with T-B bacteria. Althoughthis method is effective, it takes a long time. Trained laboratoryworkers may spend up to a full day to complete just twenty tests.
Belgian scientist Bart Weetjens (WET-jens) says his idea isfaster and more effective. He says one rat can complete more thantwo-thousand tuberculosis tests in a single day. The rats can smelltuberculosis bacteria. They are trained to stay in front of a T-Btest if the disease is present.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Weetjens gives the rats food when they correctly identifytuberculosis. He says money from the World Bank will be used tocarry out a full scientific study with the rats. He hopes to provethat his method is a dependable, effective way to identify T-B inpoor nations. The social entrepreneurs presenting ideas at thisyear’s Development Marketplace gave Mister Weetjens’ project thePeople’s Choice Award. The scientist said he was honored and pleasedthat so many people consider his work valuable.
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VOICE ONE:
The first Development Marketplace competition was held intwo-thousand. At that time, forty-three winning ideas sharedfive-million dollars in start-up money. Last year, four-and-one-halfmillion dollars was divided among thirty-nine winners. And at thisyear’s competition, forty-seven projects won financing. The winnersdivided the largest amount of start-up money –six-and-one-half-million dollars. World Bank President PaulWolfensohn described the winners as imaginative people with theability to solve difficult development problems.
VOICE TWO:
More than two-thousand-seven-hundred people entered ideas at thestart of this year’s competition in June. To learn more about howyou can take part in the next Development Marketplace, visit theWorld Bank website at w-w-w-dot-worldbank-dot-org. World Bank isspelled as all one word. (www.worldbank.org)
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Jill Moss andproduced by Mario Ritter, and you can download all of our program scripttext and mp3 audio files from
WWW.VOA-STORY.COM I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Listen again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.