Dr. Makoto Kimura, a Japanese engineer from the Kyoto University International Innovation Center, will be here Feb. 26 to launch do-nou projects at the College of Aquatic Sciences and Applied Technology (CASAT) in Currimao.

A \"Do-nou Day\" will be conducted on that day in the said college where all faculty members and students there as well as members of the Administrative Council, chiefs of offices, and MMSU Do-nou Project staff are expected to attend. Also, entries in the Do-nou Postcard-making Contest will go through final judging in the afternoon of the same day where winners will get PhP10,000 (first prize), PhP5,000 (second), and PhP3,000 (third).

In the groundbreaking ceremony, Dr. Kimura will demonstrate fabrication of do-nou bag, after which the participants will do a ceremonial fabrication of said bags.

Earlier, on Jan. 12-14, Kimura and another engineer, Dr. Yoshinori Fukubayashi, came to the university to conduct a survey at the project site at CASAT and at the Philippine Carabao Center in Batac.

The visit was part of the survey grant the two engineers obtained from the Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. Part of the grant was the purchase of a laser survey instrument which The visit was part of the survey grant the two engineers obtained from the Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. Part of the grant was the purchase of a laser survey instrument which cost JPY200,000 (PhP100,000). According to them, the excess money from the grant amounting to JPY300,000 (PhP150,000) can be used to start some small segments of the CASAT do-nou projects.

Kimura and Fukubayashi have been visiting the university since 2006 to introduce and make MMSU a showcase of a poverty alleviation strategy that can address accessibility problems in depressed areas. Kimura wanted to create a unique model in the university – the first in the country – for possible adoption by local officials and concerned agencies and institutions.

Dr. Kimura is Japan International Cooperation Agency’s coordinator for poverty alleviation in Asia and in Africa. He first came to the university in August 2006 to introduce the do-nou technology and to express his interest to tie-up with MMSU for future road projects using soil bags.

The plans were realized in Feb. 2007 when he came back, together with Fukubayashi, to launch a cheap and all-weather MMSU access road project using labor-based technology.