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May 29, 2008

JICA Senior Volunteer Activities in Bhutan

Ms. Jigme, participant of Vocational Rehab. Course 2005 wrote her Action Plan on "Bakery Shop."
And she has started her project together with JICA senior volunteer since this January. Mr.Satoshi SEIKE, who is dispatched to the organization of Ms. Jigme sent us the following progress report.

JICA Senior Volunteer Activities in Bhutan
Mr. Satoshi SEIKE, Food Processing Trainer
Assigned to Drak-Tsho Vocational Training Centre for Disabled (“DVTCD”)

Background of the Request by JICA
After 6 years since DVTCD’s establishment, its operation is heading in the right direction and the project to launch a bakery shop for enabling the graduates to secure employment opportunities was brought out by DVTCD. The project started with an aim to receive Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects　supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. However it turned out that a precondition must be upheld, which is to have initiated groundwork activities for the project.
In order to achieve such purposes, Senior Volunteer (“SV”) who is capable of the following was requested by JICA and that is what I engage in currently.

 Teach and train know-how for baking bread/confectionery to trainees with mild intellectual disabilities and with mild hearing impairment.
 Transfer of basic technical information/guidance of bread/confectionery baking and also give advice on selecting basic necessary baking equipment and utensils.

Activities to date and Problems encountered
Initially I proceeded to select the least equipment/utensils necessary for launching a confectionery factory and commencing classes. I planned to procure them using DVTCD funds with a hope to receive the grassroots grant aid. However, I was informed by the Embassy of Japan in India that at least 2 years of the activities shall be necessary to actually receive the grant aid. After having a discussion with Ms. Jigme, the director at DVTCD, we have changed our plan to purchase some equipment/utensils by using JICA’s cost of equipment accompanied by senior volunteer dispatch so that we are able to start a class and a small-scale operation of a bakery shop. At the same time, the renovation of a bakery shop and a factory is also in process, bearing in mind the prospective receipt of the grant aid in two years time. Along with the above-mentioned activities I have been conducting some market researches on raw materials, equipment/utensils and the current status of bread/confectionery shops in Thimphu, capital city of Bhutan. Some of the findings of my researches are as follows.

Raw materials:
It seems that most of raw material necessary for bread/confectionery baking can be obtained. Wheat flour supplied in Bhutan is imported from India and Thailand. Although flour from India is moderate in price it is lack in quality. On the other hand flour from Thailand is superior in quality but the price is far more expensive than the one from India.

Equipment/Utensils:
As some of the large sized equipment for professional use such as an oven, fermenting machine, and blender cannot be obtained in Bhutan, we placed an order for those items with the confectionery equipment manufacturer in Thailand. Also some of the special baking pans for bread/confectionery production are impossible to obtain. Other cooking apparatuses for professional use in general are either unobtainable or poor-quality articles in Bhutan. It is now under consideration if the essential equipment/utensils such as moulds, which are not available here in Bhutan, can be sent from Japan. But, in this case, we cannot use JICA’s budget, so I need to negotiate with the DVTCD director. For other articles, I am considering to look for substitutes in Phuntsholing, a border town near India.

Bakery/Confectionery Shop:
There are several shops selling bread/confectionery. They are baked in large quantities in a different location(s) and brought into the shops. Since it is not commonly acknowledged in Bhutan that freshly-baked bread should be sold fresh, you will find stale bread on the shelves. The prices are inexpensive –the price for a loaf of bread is about 40 Japanese Yen. Confectionaries in Bhutan seem to have influence of India; they contain a lot of sugar and the texture is hard. The prices are also inexpensive and there are also several shops selling homemade confectionery.
I have baked bread/confectionery myself at home to calculate the cost. I am currently reviewing the selling prices. As long as I use highly priced flour, eggs and butter, compared to what we pay in Japan, the selling prices needs to be set several times higher than those of the existing shops. Therefore, I need to change recipes and make high quality products without increasing the price.

Future Activities
In addition to the problems mentioned earlier, there are more issues to be considered and overcome before opening our bakery shop. One of them is to determine prospective customers. Should we sell low price products targeting ordinary Bhutanese people or expensive but high quality products targeting wealthy shoppers? This decision impacts strongly to our product development.
The next issue is a packaging. In Japan, especially regarding confectionaries, the way of packaging influences the marketability of a product. But the shops here in Bhutan just put bread/confectionery in a box without any packaging or just wrap them in plastic. Considering that packaging materials are so limited and we cannot spend much on packaging cost, I am seeking for the cooperation of a SV who engages in packaging designing.
Purchasing large sized equipment was approved by the JICA office in Japan in April. Now the purchasing arrangement is being carried out through the JICA office in Thailand. At the same time designing specifications of our bakery shop and refurbishing plan of our factory is being developed with a cooperation of another SV who engages in construction.
It will take about 2 months before receiving the large sized equipment, if they are shipped by sea. Furthermore It will take a while before starting the construction of a shop and factory), as I need to receive a quotation.
In the beginning I had planned to start a class after 6 months of my arrival, but things are not moving forward as fast as expected.　 Apart from myself, everyone including my two counterparts are all non-professionals. Even if I could start a class in October 2008, in this situation, it seems impossible to open the shop and get it off the ground by January 2010, when the term of my dispatch expires. So, I am asking JICA to consider extending my assignment for one extra year, but under the present situation with the SV Programme, it is unlikely to happen. I sincerely hope that JICA will extend my assignment as much as possible, and despatch a successor in a timely manner.

Conclusion:
I was despatched to Turkey as a SV teaching how to cook Japanese cuisine three years ago. Turkey has achieved a high level of industrial power and good distribution system, and the country is rich in materials/products. If I put an order of necessary equipment to a small-medium scale factory, they could produce the exact products. On the contrary, Bhutan has not achieve a high level of industrialisation and it is dependent on foreign imports. Additionally large part of the country is mountainous area. This geographic condition makes the development of its distribution system more difficult, ending up spending a lot of time and efforts to obtain one article not available in the country. The same can be said for food ingredients. Most of them are imported from India and Thailand.
I spoke with some of the homemade confectionery shop owners in Timphu how they bought the large sized equipment and special baking utensils. Every response I received was exactly the same – travel to either Deli in India or Bangkok in Thailand and import goods privately. There are not any import agents in Bhutan and this seems to be the only way to buy them. This time I could purchase some large size equipment and transport them here via the JICA office in Bangkok. However, I still need some other equipment and utensils for bread/confectionary baking. It seems impossible to manufacture moulds etc in Bhutan. Regarding food ingredients, I will use what I can find here, and then make bread/confectionaries in accordance with the ingredients that I can get.

To conclude my report, I shall push forward toward my initial aim: starting a class for the trainees/counterpart as soon as possible, transferring the technology, opening up a bakery shop, receiving the grass roots grant aid, andassuring stable workplaces for the graduates of DVTCD.

Posted by jicafriends at May 29, 2008 02:43 PM

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