The Organization for Food and Local Development (OADEL) celebrates its twenty years of existence on March 01, 2023. To mark the event, OADEL officials organized this February 28, 2023 in Lomé, a meeting with media professionals where they took stock of their activities and their prospects.
Speaking about the achievements of the organization over these years, Tata Ametoenyenou, Executive Director of OADEL said that a lot has been materialized.
“We were the very first organization to set up a food film festival in West Africa. Added to this is the creation of Bobar, which is a space for selling and catering local products. We have also created the distribution center for local products that is Bobar distribution, we are also working on local bread and we are fighting so that the bread we eat every day can be made up of 15% local flour, “said Tata Ametoenyenou.
He affirmed that the results of these activities are very satisfactory. “We are proud of the path we have traveled, we have no regrets, most of the initiatives we have taken have been appreciated both nationally and internationally”, he underlined.
The Executive Director, however, indicated that they have encountered difficulties and that challenges remain.
“We encountered difficulties, but we did not give up. It was a long journey, especially in a sector of activity that was not easy. However, we are proud of the path we have traveled and these 20 years have been marked by many challenges that we have taken up”, said Tata Ametoenyenou before adding that “we still have 20 years of dreams which will focus on the establishment of a public and institutionalized training program so that the sector agribusiness is no longer left to all comers, we also want to set up a basic training program for any agrifood entrepreneur, create an applied training center to reflect on innovations in the agrifood sector by putting on the market, pre-prepared hands . OADEL will also publish a number of documents both on the African Continental Free Trade Area”.
Note that this celebration is spread over the whole year. The presentation of certificates of recognition to employees, the inauguration of the central distribution of local products, festivities are among the activities on the program of these festivities.
Created on March 1, 2003, OADEL’s mission was to work for education for citizenship and democracy. But very quickly, she changed her area of intervention to take an interest in food citizenship by ensuring that “each individual, alone or in a community, becomes a consumer-actor and not a simple consumer”.
Rachel Doubidji