Exciting news!!! You can now learn about the history of the “One Village, One Product” (OVOP) approach in Kyrgyzstan through a comic book. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has published a manga titled “Pursuing Quality and Bringing Kyrgyz Brands to the World,” dedicated to the project. The story was written with the participation of Akihisa Haraguti, a JICA expert who has been working on the project in Kyrgyzstan since 2009. The manga is based on a book about real events and, in an accessible way, illustrates the challenges the project faced before becoming a national program..
Обложка манги. Источник: JICA
The story begins in 2007, when JICA launched the “One Village, One Product” project in the Issyk-Kul region. At that time, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a shortage of jobs in the region, and young people were leaving for cities and abroad. Local women began making jam and felt toys, but sales didn’t pick up; participants gradually dropped out, and by 2009, the project was on the verge of shutting down.
That same year, Japanese expert Akihisa Haraguti arrived in Kyrgyzstan. He visited the workshops and saw that there were no uniform standards for the work, and many residents had never even heard of the project. Haraguti then invited the producers to a general meeting and established the OVOP cooperative.
Throughout the story, we see how, by streamlining production processes and undergoing testing, the project evolved and began collaborating with major brands, showcasing its products on the international market. The manga concludes with Kyrgyz producers participating in the Japanese trade show FOODEX JAPAN and the idea that the project benefits both countries: Kyrgyz villages gain income and jobs, while Japanese consumers receive high-quality goods. The comic is a great introduction to the history of OVOP and clearly illustrates that the program’s success is the result of years of consistent work on quality, trust, and production organization.
You can read the entire manga on the JICA website: English and Russian versions (under “Comic Books”)
This material was prepared by CAREC intern Alyona Shlyonskaya
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and read the blog of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
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© 2026 Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC). Reproduction, copying, or other use of materials is permitted only with an active hyperlink to the original source. This material was prepared with informational and analytical support from AI tools.
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