Development Marketplace winners announced

The winners of the 2006 Development Marketplace where announce yesterday. $5 million was awarded to 30 innovative projects that will help communities meet their basic needs for clean water, hygienic sanitation, and access to energy. Winning project ideas ranged from using native freshwater mussels to clean up China’s lakes, to sustainable rooftop rainwater harvesting in India, to elephant pumps in Zimbabwe, and LED lighting in tribal homes in India.

Some notable awards:

• People’s Choice Award: Water is Life, Niger
• Peers' Choice Award: Replacing Biogas for Mass Cooking, Nigeria
• Infrastructure Staff Award: Pro-Poor Sanitation Demand Creation, Bolivia