Cory’s post about the Tech Museum Awards reminded me to look through the list of this year’s Laureates. Nominees outside the Economic Development category may not necessarily be base of the pyramid focused, but they tend to be really innovative and under-the-radar. As I browsed down through the categories, I was pleasantly surprised: Catalytic Communities, a NextBillion ally and base of the pyramid innovator, is listed as a Laureate in the Equality category.

We’ve previously mentioned Catalytic Communities (CatComm) on NextBillion.net in the context of their community work in Brazil. A quick reminder - CatComm serves as a clearinghouse for low-income communities’ collective wisdom. CatComm’s Community Solutions Database tracks hundreds of bottom-up solutions to local problems, and they have built powerful peer networks of community leaders worldwide to grow and field-test those solutions.

I’m thrilled to see this project recognized by the Tech Museum. Sure, the Community Solutions Database uses cutting edge IT in its work, but the real innovation is their model. Here at NextBillion, we often talk about what works for the base of the pyramid, returning again and again to the importance of partnerships and understanding local markets. CatComm doesn’t talk – it builds partnerships and disseminates local knowledge, helping successful models scale up. They don’t have to worry about local buy-in – they ARE local. This is one of the best examples of bottom-up, base of the pyramid development out there.

The thing to do in development right now (the right thing in my opinion) is to have as much initiative and control as possible given to the beneficiary. That is one of the main tenets behind the BOP market theory, grassroots development and other approaches. Poverty alleviation and economic growth should be accompanied by a diversity of voices and a range of input.

Of course as much as we say that, a lot of the folks still designing development projects and writing about them in blogs like this one do not represent the beneficiary nor a very wide array of voices. In the spirit of hearing these other perspectives, I would encourage readers to check out a few blogs I have run across recently.