*This entry is cross-posted at Hot Ideas / Cool Projects
The day spent speaking with 13 social entrepreneurs was inspirational and exhausting, and gave me an indelible picture of many, many people putting every ounce of energy and intellect toward solving some of the most intractable health problems in the world. Before the Ddevelopment Marketplace event, my fellow juror, Hasan Tuluy, and I reviewed descriptions of a wide range of projects -- from one that seeks to translate the incredible model of cataract care from India's Aravind Eye Hospital to South Africa, to one that envisions engaging disc jockeys to spread messages about safe sex to youth in Kenya. Then today we got to speak to those who had prepared the proposals, and who had first-hand knowledge of what has been done in the real world -- and first-hand hopes about what could be done.
Not all of the projects seemed like they could really get off the ground, primarily because they didn't seem to deal with some of the underlying incentives and disincentives that might work against the well intentioned "shoulds" of the public health folks seeking behavior change. For most, the projections of sustainability in the future seemed to be based at least as much on optimism as on evidence. Â
But there were some real stand-outs: innovations as simple and needed as a kit of reusable sanitary napkins for school-age girls and as remarkable as the development of sign language to talk with deaf youth about sexuality (you wouldn't believe what words don't currently exist in the sign language used in Asia!). More than that, there was the tremendous enthusiasm of those who were "selling" in the marketplace of ideas, happy to be included in the finalists and eager to get to the winner's circle.
What was most striking to me, as a former Bank staff member who worked on many loans in health, nutrition and population over the years, was how completely different these projects were than virtually anything else the Bank finances. These were genuinely local approaches, and the designers were sorting out in detail what to do with relatively small amounts of money (around $200,000); they were grounded on curiosity and passion and, for the most part, were focused on communication and behavior change, with a bit of technology thrown in. They were also not, in general, focused on things like the Millennium Development Goals or the "big three" of AIDS, TB and malaria. They were about diabetes. Blindness. Utero vaginal prolapse.  Guinea worm. There wasn't a word about "donor harmonization" or "implementation units." Those describing the projects used words like "people," and "husbands and wives," and "babies," rather than "the poor" and "ultimate beneficiaries." All in all, a very welcome breath of vigor and fresh air at the World Bank.
