• Public Private Partnership has strength in the promotion of OVOP, especially the role of local community organisations and business organisations;
  
• NGOs and local communities are the right partners in the OVOP programme for assisting in the creation and marketing of the products/services, particularly the quality control of products;
  
• Proper and convenient buildings have to be built to enhance the quality and efficiency of production; both dry and frozen food packaging of products have to comply with global marketing standards;
  
• Creation of a selection of attractive products at good value from product development to the market place is essential.
  
  

The Malaysia training course which took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, was jointly organised by the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme, Institute for Rural Advancement (Malaysia) and Japan International Cooperation Agency. The course targeted 23 participants from six countries, namely Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Nigeria, Zambia and Malawi.

The course was organised to enable participants to:

• Understand the rural development policies, strategies and programmes, especially in the context of the Malaysian experience
  
• Share information, best practices and lessons learnt in rural development programmes, particularly the empowerment of the poor through income generation and value added projects.
  
• Promote collaboration and networking among participating countries.

It was observed that the Malaysian economy is largely dependent on manufacturing and agriculture. The Government’s priority area was the reduction of rural poverty from11.9% to 7.1% by 2010. As such, it had put in place a number of strategies and programmes to achieve the goal such as:

• Implementation of small scale businesses and service activities
• Processing of agro-based economic activities
  
• Implementation of agricultural based economic activities
  
• Increased NGO and private sector participation in development activities
• Involvement of communities in project design through SWOT and gap analysis

Several lessons were learnt from the Malaysian experience, including the use of a “bottom up” approach as a tool in the development process. The communities have been encouraged to look around and identify resources, knowledge and skills which they can use to come up with a tangible project which can benefit them.

• The Government has invested so much in infrastructure development (Rural water supply 61%-99% coverage, Electricity 78%-99% coverage, Village Roads 47,537 kms, Rural Roads 1,090 kms). With these facilities, the rural communities are able to produce and process products and bring them to the nearest markets more efficiently.
  
• NGOs and Government agencies are mandated to provide markets for processed products at a local level
  
• Rural communities are encouraged and mobilised to work as a group and carry out various production businesses. Government provides processing machinery. The machinery will only be withdrawn if it is left idle at certain times.
  
• The groups running various production businesses are automatically given a soft loan with a long grace period.
  
• The Department of Agriculture is mandated to look at issues of product standardisation and the costs of the product certification process are subsidised by Government.
  
• Packaging and labelling of products is heavily supported by Government agencies such as the Farmers Associations Authority.
  
• Awards are given to the best performing cooperatives in a district by the Government as a way of encouraging them to do more.
  
• Local Governments provide cooperatives with inputs such as fertilisers, chemicals and labour for free to boost their production.
  
• Financial lending institutions are encouraged to operate at local level to provide farmers with easy access to capital.

The knowledge and skills gained during the course will help to improve the marketing section in particular, and OVOP programme in general.