Bart Weetjens was one of the 35 jurors who had to choose winners from the 104 finalists in the DM2007 competition.  He'e happy for the 22 projects that won, but sorry that there were 82 losers.  Weejens, who won with his DM2003 project of rats sniffing out TB, thinks all the finalists should be winners -- preferably of money, but at least technical and other advice that can help achieve their projects' potential.

"The Development Marketplace should be strengthened -- it should get more money," he said.  "Less than 1 percent of the total entries [almost 3,000] won," he said.  "That's far too small a number.  Why shouldn't 5 percent win?"

Weetjens thinks judging should be revamped to factor in the "People's Choices," where visitors post approval stickers on the kiosks of their favorite projects.  DM selected one "People's Choice" this year -- Health Insurance for Street Children in Manila -- but the honor includes a check for only $500.  Weetjens also thinks the jury should be expanded to include more middle-level experts both from the World Bank and outside.

He understand the emphasis on sustainability in evaluating projects, but worries that some worthy ones might not make the final cut because they require additional research that's not likely to produce an early payoff.  He cites his own 2003 project as an example.  His company, APOPO, with offices in Antwerp, Belgium, and Tanzania and Mozambique, sought DM funding in 2003 of $163,780 to train rats to detect TB in human saliva in Tanzania.  TB rates are soaring in Tanzania and other African countries because the disease is often to linked to HIV/AIDS, whose infection rates in those countries are also high.  Weetjens' project required a lot of addtional research, but he thinks it won a DM2003 award because of the publicity built around rats sniffing out disease.

Many projects at the same research threshold may have the same potential but be missing "the rat factor" needed to sway judges, he said.

Weetjens says the World Bank "is making a great effort," but should be much more involved in funding small projects.  This would provide them [the Bank] with a platform to bring projects to a wider population which would never stand a chance elsewhere," he said.