The World Bank (WB) has launched a competitive development marketplace for nutrition (DMN) aimed at finding and funding innovative ideas to change the lives of thousands of pregnant women, infants and young children in South Asia, local media reported on Sunday.

According to The Himalayan Times daily report, titled Family and Community Approaches to Improving Infant and Young Child Nutrition, DMN is looking for entrepreneurial organizations across South Asia to submit proposals for local, small-scale projects which have the potential to be upscaled and replicated.

"Winners will be selected by an international jury of development and nutrition experts at the DMN event in August, 2009 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and will receive funding to implement their proposals," according to a press release issued by the WB on Saturday.

"Malnutrition affects the lives of millions of infants and young children in South Asia," said Isabel Guerrero, WB vice president for the South Asia region.

This competition offers a unique opportunity to channel small grants directly to community organizations and NGOs who present innovative ways to address this devastating problem."

Malnutrition is the single biggest contributor to child mortality in the world. In no place is this problem more serious than in South Asia, where child malnutrition rates are among the highest in the world, said the report.

In Nepal, malnutrition remains a big problem, evidenced by the fact that nearly half of all children below the age of five suffer from stunted growth. One in two children below five years is anemic and 39 percent of them are underweight.

The South Asia Regional DMN is implemented in partnership with United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and the World Food Program. The competition is open to civil society groups, social entrepreneurs, youth organizations, private foundations, academia and private sector corporations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The maximum award will be US$40,000 per proposal. Proposals will be accepted until March 31, the bank said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2009)