The World Bank and its partners opened a unique marketplace for development ideas in Beijing on Thursday, which involves 100 projects recommended by non-governmental organizations.

 

The bank said the China Development Marketplace exhibition was opened to the public from Thursday afternoon to Friday afternoon at the Beijing International Conference Center.

 

The ideas, or innovative economic and social development projects, will compete for small grants from the bank on Friday.

 

David Dollar, the China Country Director of the World Bank, said one of the primary objectives of creating this marketplace is to promote and support the growth of civil society organizations (CSOs) in China.

 

Wu Zhong, director-general of the External Cooperation Department of the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office, said social participation in poverty reduction has been successful in China.

 

The marketplace has explored a valuable means of mobilizing social capital and encouraging CSOs to help reduce poverty, said Wu.

 

It has also provided a good channel and vehicle for the private sector to put their ideas for corporate social responsibility into practice.

 

The bank received almost 1,000 proposal ideas for its theme, "Supporting Innovations for Scaling-Up Services that Reach the Poor", and the top 100 projects selected from 28 provinces have now been invited to present their ideas and compete for grant funding at the two-day marketplace event.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2006)