Coops stimulate economic growth during global crisis

CEBU, Philippines - The holding of the first Asian Cooperative meeting in Cebu next week is expected to strengthen the cooperatives’ performance, especially in the Philippines, in battling the lingering effects of the global economic recession.

Dubbed as the “1st Asian Cooperative TeamShop,” the event slated on November 18 to 20 at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) will carry the theme “Doing Good, Doing Well, through Coopreneurship.”

The National Cooperative Development Council, together with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) announced that Asian cooperatives are now moving at strengthening the cooperative business all over Asia, as this is expected to stimulate economic growth.

The three-day event, will also assure over 5,000 cooperative leaders, practitioners, and advocates all over Asia on how G8 countries are responding to the global economic meltdown and Asian coops' response to the global financial crisis

The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) recognized the increasing role of cooperatives in the recent global economic crisis saying that “cooperatives being value-based enterprises with unique blend of economic and social responsibilities soaked with a different ethos that employ 100 million people across the world need to be considered as a preferred option to stimulate economic growth.”

Top executives from the influential organizations such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, International Labor Organization (ILO),    International Cooperative Alliance Asian Confederation of Credit Union, among others, will be present during the conference to discuss issues and challenges faced by Cooperatives around the world and their support programs to strengthen Cooperatives’ performance.

As of 2007, Cooperatives’ business in the Philippines posted a total of P78.5 billion worth of trade volume, which generated 1.6 million jobs all over the country.

CDA a government agency that is mandated to promote the viability and growth of cooperatives as instruments for equity, social justice and economic development, revealed that of the over 70,000 coops registered, only over 30 percent survived and operating.

This is because of the poor governance and management, entrenched leadership/untrained employees, not competitive products and services, absence of internal controls, lack of prudential rules and regulations, and stagnant membership base and market ignorant.

The upcoming Asian Cooperatives’ conference is seen to offer solutions of these problems, thereby promoting growth in businesses managed and operated by Cooperatives.

A cooperative is an autonomous and duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve their social, economic, and cultural needs and aspirations, making equitable contributions to the capital required, patronizing their products and services, and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principles.

This international gathering aims at achieving goals that will further develop the cooperatives in the region, such as establish stronger linkages between and among cooperatives for mutually enriching “coopreneurial” activities, push business matching, and define the Asian coop’s role on the emerging global climate change.