The OVOP Movement in Malawi



The wedding ceremony in Oita

Hello, everyone! I have been to Oita prefecture last weekend because I have attended a wedding ceremony of my friend. A wedding ceremony was held in a leading shrine in Oita prefecture. It was solemn and made me happy.

Today I will write the activities of the One Village One Product Movement (OVOP) in Malawi.

The activities of the OVOP Movement in Oita prefecture were introduced to home and abroad. In the late 1990’s, the OVOP Movement was also introduced to Africa through JICA. Malawi government adopted it in 2004. I will write how it came down from governor to Malawi people and how they practiced it.

< In Malawi>

Malawi is a small country of 118,000 square kilometer (It is the same area which add Hokkaido and Kyusyu) and has 13 million people. Malawi is the poorest country in the world. In 2004, national income per capita in Malawi was 160 dollars. It ranked 201th out of 208 cou ntries which have statistics. Also, the poor people in Malawi account for 65% of Malawian and live mostly in rural areas. In recent year, Malawian government has a problem that the farmers decrease to have the HIV/AIDS or the tuberculosis and influence the agricultural crop.



the rural area in Malawi



 < The OVOP Movement in Malawi>

The Malawian government expended about ten years for adopting the OVOP Movement. The Malawi Ambassador in Tokyo has often visited to Oita prefecture since the late 1990’s. The Oita governor has also visited to Malawi. The president of Malawi attended to the Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (It’s called “TICAD”) in 2003 and had a great interest in the OVOP Movement. He came back Malawi and held the workshop of the OVOP Movement in Malawi. The Malawian government has promoted the OVOP Movement in Malawi as a national project since 2004. JICA has supported to Malawian government since 2003 and launched the development of human resources and so on. Then the activity of the OVOP Movement in Malawi began in 2006. The Malawian government took in it in the policy of ‘Malawi Growth and Development Strategy’. In 2009, the governors who work the OVOP Movement were posted every area in Malawi. At first, adopting this movement was considered to the strategy of a president election for the president of Malawi

  



The workshop of  the OVOP Movement



<The objects of the OVOP Movement in Malawi>

The Malawian government has aimed at the promotion and improvement of processed technique which use the farm and fish products in rural areas, the promotion of marketing and raising the values of products made in Malawi.

The Malawian government held the workshop to local government officials and so on and lectured about the principles of the OVOP Movement, how to process the products and how to promote a business and so on. The participants produced juices, jams, dry vegetables and the peanut oil and so on in alliance with the University of Malawi and the Malawi Industrial Research Technology Development Center and so on.

They have sold the products of the OVOP Movement in the supermarket and the shop in the Lilongwe International Airport. In 2008, there were forty products of the OVOP Movement in the supermarket and the shop. Also, 13,000 Malawi people participated in this movement.

The shop in Malawi