Asian delegates study PHL cooperative practices
- Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=849157
- Thursday, January 21, 2016
- (PNA), RMA/CD/MARK FRANCISCO
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Jan. 21 (PNA) – Delegates of various agricultural cooperatives in the Asia Pacific tackle the “management best practices” as its major concern during the annual executive meeting here.
Orlando Ravanera, of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in Northern Mindanao, said that 11 delegates from six countries in the Asia Pacific region,were all officials of the Regional Network for the Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and Pacific (NEDAC), had expressed interest in the success of cooperatives in the country.
W.I Khan, NEDAC program director, told the Philippines News Agency that most cooperatives in developing countries, Bangladesh, were run by “inefficient managers who lack the training capacity.”
Khan, however, said that the peculiar situation was not just limited to Bangladesh but even in more emerging economies such as Sri Lanka and even China.
“Sadly, this is the true state of “cooperatives” in other countries that we have visited. That’s why we need to address the problem,” Khan said.
MASS SPECC, the oldest and the biggest cooperative federation outside Metro Manila, makes Cagayan de Oro City the capital of the cooperative movement in the country.
The Cagayan De Oro-based First Community Cooperative is the biggest cooperative credit union in the country. And Coop Life Insurance & Mutual Benefit Services (CLIMBS), which is also from here, is the largest of its kind in the Philippines.
It is for these facts that NEDAC decided to hold its annual executive meeting Cagayan De Oro, Ravanera said.“We are interested to learn about the best practices of cooperatives here,” Khan said.
He said that the executive meeting was not only on sessions, but also with tours around agricultural cooperatives in Northern Mindanao.
NEDAC has over 300,000 cooperatives under its fold with a total of 30 million members. They are located in Bangladesh, China, India, Nepal, Thailand and the Philippines.