Coops Speak was envisioned as a way of connecting experts and leaders in the Asia-Pacific co-operative movement, to those who support the movement, in varying capacities.
In our second edition, we spoke with Ms. Elenita (Leni) Sanroque, CEO of the Association of Asia Confederation of Credit Unions (ACCU), Thailand, on August 31. The questions to Ms. Sanroque were on the interplay between credit unions and the SDGs, youth and financial inclusion, and the upcoming 2017 ACCU forum in Sri Lanka from September 19 to 21. Leni said that credit unions have an important role to play in the SDGs. For credit unions to perform better on the SDGs front, she felt that they need to reach to the grassroots level. They have to reach the poor in order to be truly contributing to the SDGs. The Annual Forums in 2015 and 2016, which is attended by credit unions and co-ops from several countries, was used as a platform to discuss and pledge towards different SDGs.
On the topic of youth and credit co-ops, she said that all universities in Thailand have credit unions. Ms. Sanroque believed that in order for credit unions to attract more youth, across other countries, they need to modernize their systems as well as services which cater to the needs of their target group. She also mentioned about their work on pooling and sharing of resources in technology, HR recruitment, excess liquidity and centralized marketing to ease costs and achieve scale.
Support for ‘Co-op Mic’ and Coops Speak is provided by the ICA Domus Trust and the ICA-EU Partnership on Co-operatives in Development: People Centered Businesses in Action.
