The Small Grants Program was created in 1983 to provide a way for the World Bank to promote dialogue and dissemination of information about international development in forums outside its own operations.
Any Chinese institution concerned about development can apply for a grant.
However, the Small Grants Program prefers to support nonprofit, nongovernmental, nonacademic organizations. Activities supported by the Small Grants Program promote dialogue and dissemination of information about international development. These activities are most often conferences and seminars, special editions or startup costs of publications, audio-visual materials, or other innovative networking efforts that small organizations generally find difficult to fund through their regular program budgets. The grant activities focus on socioeconomic development problems such as poverty reduction, environmental protection, human resource development, as well as NGO capacity building. Examples of activities supported by the Program are attached.