World Bank to Launch Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in North America (DMADA)
Contacts: Beldina Auma
Tel: (202) 458-7307
[email protected]
WASHINGTON, DC, January 29, 2009 – The Africa Region of the World Bank on February 27, 2009 will launch the “Development Marketplace for the African Diaspora in North America” (DMADA), as part of its ongoing “Mobilizing the African Diaspora for Development” initiative.
DMADA will be implemented with the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and will seek proposals from members of the African Diaspora living in the United States and Canada, who wish to implement projects related to Youth and Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa countries.
The World Bank’s 2008-09 Africa Development Indicators defines youth as those between the ages of 15 and 24. There are 200 million youth in Africa, of whom approximately 120 million are unemployed and 144 million live on less than $2 a day. To escape poverty, many youth migrate to urban areas. This increases the strain for jobs in cities without necessarily improving the job conditions of those left in rural areas. It also impacts provision of public goods, education, utilities, housing and infrastructure and affects demographic and skills composition in both urban and rural areas. Youth in Africa are not a homogeneous group and their employment prospects vary according to region, gender, age, educational level, ethnicity and health status. However, the typical African youth, as given by medians, is an 18.5-year-old female, living in a rural area and literate but not attending school.
DMADA seeks to address the challenges of youth employment in a sustainable manner and will therefore accept proposals on expanding job opportunities, supporting entrepreneurship and improving access to education. It will also accept proposals that address demographic issues such as young motherhood and the provision of public services, infrastructure and health.
DMADA is based on the World Bank’s highly successful Development Marketplace model, a competitive grant program that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. Since its inception in 1998, the Marketplace has awarded roughly US$50 million to more than 1,000 projects through global, regional and country-level Marketplaces. Using Development Marketplace funding as a launching pad, many projects go on to scale up or replicate elsewhere, winning prestigious awards for social entrepreneurship.
For further details on DMADA, please visit: www.worldbank.org/afr/diaspora/dmada
For more information about the World Bank in Sub-Saharan Africa, please visit: www.worldbank.org/afr
If you are based in the Washington DC area, please email [email protected] if you are interested in attending the DMADA launch event at the World Bank Headquarters on February 27. Formal invitations will be sent closer to the date.
