Commonwealth News and Information Service (London)
2 April 2008
press release
Commonwealth assistance aims to generate an overall increase in demand for goods and services produced by rural-based enterprises
Rural-based micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Malawi are benefiting from Commonwealth technical assistance which is helping to improve their access to business services, technology and finance.
The Commonwealth Secretariat is hiring a rural enterprise expert and conducting consultative workshops to determine how best to assist and empower rural small businesses. This work is being funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation - the principal means for providing technical assistance to Commonwealth countries.
It is hoped that such assistance will enable Malawi to build the viability and competitiveness of the MSMEs working within One Village One Product (OVOP) - a strategic practical concept for grassroots development.
The OVOP approach - initiated in Japan in the 1970s - aims to achieve regional economic development by adding value to products, using locally available resources in processing, quality control and marketing.
In Malawi the OVOP was launched in 2003 and has boosted the incomes and livelihood of rural communities by enabling them to set up village co-operatives to process foodstuffs, jams, fresh juices, cassava bread and soya oil.
Jose Maurel, Director of the Secretariat's Special Advisory Services Division (SASD), said that "turning a packaged development concept into a workable programme is not easy, even with generous Japanese support. The Malawi Government has noted some challenges and the Commonwealth Secretariat is ideally placed to sort it out. Operationally the OVOP Secretariat needs to reassess systems, and strategically it needs to engage with the broader stakeholder community, including the numerous existing MSME institutions, to negotiate a strategy to support and backstop its rural programme."
Roland Charles, Enterprise Development Adviser in SASD, explained that "ultimately the project is aimed at generating an overall increase in demand for goods and services produced by rural MSMEs - and to ensure that they are more profitable and better linked into commercial markets."
It is also anticipated that the Government of Malawi will benefit from improved policies and strategies for rural micro medium and small medium development.
The project is particularly beneficial for Malawi as 80 per cent of the country's population is rural-based and its economy relies mainly on agriculture. It is hoped that the Commonwealth assistance will boost government efforts to reduce poverty, by expanding non-farm economic opportunities in addition to improving the prospects for agriculture.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Commonwealth News and Information Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
