World Bank Grant Competition Awards $840,000 to Grassroots Initiatives to Address Undernutrition in South Asia

Twenty-one civil society organizations from across South Asia won grants today from a $840,000 award pool funded by the South Asia Region Development Marketplace (DM). The winners received up to $40,000 each to implement innovative ideas on how to improve nutrition in their respective countries.  A proposal from Sri Lanka to address the root cause of undernutrition in young children was one of the winners today.

“Undernutrition is one of the most challenging issues facing South Asia,” said Isabel Guerrero, World Bank’s Vice President, South Asia Region, at the opening ceremony today in Dhaka. “Poor nutrition robs a child of a chance to succeed and live a healthy, productive life. And yet, an investment in nutrition is one of the social policy interventions that has the highest impact for each dollar spent, in improving this child’s future.”

Innovative ideas, such as the proposal called 3 Generation Communication for Improved Infant and Young Child Nutrition from Sri Lanka Green Friends Environmental Organization to change the complementary feeding practices and nutrition of expectant and nursing mothers through rural radio networks was one of the winners.

“We will use this opportunity to initiate our ideas on nutrition.  In order to make it sustainable we will collaborate with other NGOs in our area and with government organizations,” said Priyadarshana Samankumara, Director of Sri Lanka Green Friends Environmental Organization.

With the funds, the winners will have up to 18 months to carry out and implement their innovative projects.

India was the most represented country among winners, with 9 out of the 21 winning proposals. Bangladesh and Nepal tied in second place with four winners each.  Pakistan followed with two winners. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan had one winning proposal each.

Titled “Family and Community Approaches to Improve Infant and Young Child Nutrition.” the competition was designed to identify some of the most innovative ideas to improve nutrition, focusing especially on children under two years of age and pregnant women.  It drew nearly 1000 applications from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and through a vigorous assessment process by international development experts, the applicants were narrowed down to 60 finalists, who showcased their ideas today in Dhaka.

“All of the finalists gathered here today are winners,” said Ms. Guerrero, during her opening remarks, emphasizing that the greatest outcome of the Development Marketplace is precisely the learning that comes from the exchange of ideas and experiences between all the participants. Dr. A F M Ruhal Haque, Bangladesh’s Minister for Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the opening ceremony extending a warm welcome to all participants and praising the initiative.  Mr. Abul Maal Muhit, Bangladesh’s Minister for Finance handed over the certificates to winners during the closing ceremony.

A Bangladeshi proposal to promote nutritional status of malnourished children of commercial sex workers and families of people living with HIV/AIDS won the People’s Choice Award, following popular voting by visitors who attended the Development Marketplace today in Dhaka.

The South Asia Regional Development Marketplace was sponsored by UNICEF, World Food Programme, PepsiCo, the Micronutrient Initiative (MI), GTZ (Germany), and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).

For more information about the South Asia development Marketplace, visit: www.worldbank.org/nutritiondm2009

For more information about the World Bank’s work in South Asia, please visit http://www.worldbank.org/sar

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List of Winners of SAR Regional Development Marketplace

Proj. #	Organization	Country	Project Title
154	Care of Afghan Families (CAF)	Afghanistan	Baby friendly village
518	Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP)	India	“Community-driven” Nutrition Behavior Change Campaign for improved infant and pregnant feeding practices in tribal communities of Andhra Pradesh through “community-managed” Nutrition cum Day Care Centers
549	Dr. Reddy’s Foundation	India	Improving Nutritional Health of Mobile, Migrant Children Living on Construction Sites in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
553	Sri Lanka Green Friends Environmental Organization	Sri Lanka	3 Generation Communication for improved Infant and Young Child Nutrition.
580	Child In Need Institute (CINI)	India	Universalizing Supplementary Nutrition for under 5 Children: A Social Business Model of NUTRIMIX production
584	Concern Worldwide	Bangladesh	Community – Local Government Partnership to Combat Child Malnutrition
604	Calcutta Kids Trust	India	Coupling diarrhea treatment and Behavioral Change Communication to reduce severe malnutrition among children 0-36 months in an Indian urban slum
623	Vijaya Development Resource Center	Nepal	Enhanced infant and young child feeding practices linked with micronutrient sprinkles supplementation through a school based promotion and monitoring approach.
624	MaxPro Pvt. Ltd.	Nepal	Development of a community based distribution network for the distribution of the Two Child Logo Adequately Iodized Salt (2CLAIS)
625	Deepak Foundation (erstwhile known as Deepak Charitable Trust)	India	Community involvement in promoting neonatal and infant nutrition practices in tribal and rural areas of Vadodara district, Gujarat, India.
645	International Centre for Diarrheal Diseases Research, Bangladesh	Bangladesh	Promoting better infant and child feeding practice in the slums through performance based payment
649	Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan	Pakistan	A randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive community-based intervention to improve linear growth velocity amongst children aged 6-18 months in urban squatter settlements in Karachi
676	Lata Medical Research Foundation(LMRF)	India	Evaluation of the effectiveness of cell phone technology as community based intervention to improve exclusive breast feeding and reduce infant morbidity
686	Equal Access Nepal	Nepal	Nutrition through knowledge Nepal
789	INSTITUTE OF HOME ECONOMICS	India	Reducing maternal stressors and improving nutrition practices during pregnancy to enhance birth weight and infant survival: Designing an Innovative Intervention Package
895	HELP (Health Education and Literacy Program)	Pakistan	Home based nutrition rehabilitation of severely malnourished children
899	Helen Keller International, Inc. – NEPAL	Nepal	Action Against Malnutrition through Agriculture (AAMA – Aama means mother in Nepali)
924	Aga Khan Health Services,India	India	Social Capital: A catapult for improving infant feeding
931	TRAINING AND ASSISTANCE FOR HEALTH AND NUTRITION FOUNDATION	Bangladesh	Empowering women and adolescents for improving infant and young child nutrition in urban and rural Bangladesh
995	Seva Mandir	India	Addressing Iron Deficiency Anemia in Rural Rajasthan Through Iron Fortification of Flour at Village Level
	PEOPLE’s CHOICE
516	HIV/AIDS and STD Alliance Bangladesh	Bangladesh	“Comprehensive Nutrition Care to the extremely vulnerable Infant and Young Children”
	PROJECTS		COUNTRY
	1		Afghanistan
	4		Bangladesh
	9		India
	4		Nepal
	2		Pakistan
	1		Sri Lanka
	21		Grand Total

Source Worldbank

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