The ICA-AP Committee on Women held its statutory meeting and Office Bearers’ elections in the Philippines on 16 November 2022. The meeting was hosted by the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) in Quezon City.
12 Committee members from 9 ICA member organisations in Asia and Pacific participated in the hybrid meeting. Members represented the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), iCOOP, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO), Japanese Consumers' Cooperative Union (JCCU), Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-ZENCHU), Malaysian National Cooperative Movement (ANGKASA), National Cooperative Bank Ltd. (NCBL), National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and Singapore National Cooperative Federation Ltd. (SNCF).
The key points discussed during the statutory meeting were the 25th anniversary celebration of the Committee in 2023, the Gender Equality Strategy and Training of Trainers (ToT) on Climate Change and Action. The Committee will turn 25 next year and to commemorate the special occasion, a programme will be held in Japan in September 2023, hosted by JCCU. As action items, the Committee will develop a new Gender Equality Strategy to guide its work for the next three-four years and pilot the ToT on climate change and action. In 2022, the Committee entered into a four-year partnership on ‘Capacity Building Program for Women Cooperators on Climate Change and Action in Asia and Pacific’ with NATCCO. As part of the partnership, NATCCO has developed a customised training manual for the Committee on climate change and climate action solutions for cooperatives. There will be a pilot training in one of the Committee-member countries next year where the manual will be tested and subsequently finalised. From 2024 onwards, ToT shall be conducted using the training manual to make women cooperators aware of climate change and its solutions that they and their cooperatives can take or advocate, and to develop a cadre of trained women cooperators on climate action solutions in the region.
Following the discussions, the election process commenced. The election process was presided over by Ms. Alma Ferreros and Ms. Marlene Sindayen. Both Officers serve as Directors at the Philippines Cooperative Center (PCC). For the post of Chairperson, one nomination was received from Ms. Chitose Arai (JCCU), and for the post of Vice-Chairperson, three nominations were received from Ms. Priti patel (NCUI), Dr. Ahyoung Kim (iCOOP), and Ms. Janette Romero (NATCCO). The voting for the post of Vice-Chairperson was electronic. Ms. Priti Patel was elected as the Vice-Chairperson of the Committee with majority votes and Ms. Chitose Arai was elected as the Chairperson unopposed. The term of the new Office Bearers will be four years starting 2022 to 2026.
Prior to the statutory meeting, a learning visit was organised on 15 November to San Dionisio Credit Cooperative (SDCC). Set up in 1961, SDCC is a primary credit cooperative society with about 22,644 members. During the visit, SDCC gave a rich overview of their programs on climate action and gender inclusion. The members learnt about SDCC’s initiatives like the use of solar power panels in offices, tree plantation drives, gender-friendly toilets for staff, wearing purple-coloured t-shirts to support gender equality every Tuesday, and others.
