The ICA-AP Committee on Women organised a workshop on Climate Change in partnership with the National Federation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) on 14 November, Quezon City, the Philippines. The workshop was attended by Committee members, ICA-AP member organisations in the Philippines and other observers.
In 2022, ICA-AP Committee on Women decided to focus on climate change as a priority area to build the capacity of women cooperators in Asia and Pacific. The Committee joined hands with NATCCO to develop a customized training manual which will be used as an important tool to conduct training of trainers (ToT) on climate change and action in cooperatives.
During the workshop, team members of NATCCO, Ms. Lasalette M. Gumban and Ms. Daisybelle M. Cabal explained the contents of the manual. The manual has five main modules, namely 1) Introduction to climate change; 2) Climate change and its consequences on women and cooperatives; 3) Climate change solutions and the role of cooperatives; 4) Measuring the impact of climate action solutions; and 5) Developing an action plan and communication plan for the climate action program.
During the workshop, two thematic addresses were also held. First on the ‘State of climate change globally and in Asia and Pacific and the role of cooperatives’ by Ms. Elenida D. Basug, Director - Climate Change Service Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the second on ‘Greening the cooperatives toward sustainable development’ by Michelle B. Maramag, Supervising-Trade Industry Development Specialist Program Development Division Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Participants shared their general feedback on the training manual during the workshop. The Committee members were requested to share their detailed feedback and comments with the Committee Secretary by the end of December 2022 to be shared with NATCCO for revisions. Next year, pilot training will be conducted with the manual being used as a resource tool. Following this, revisions will be made to finalize the manual. The Committee plans to launch the finalised version of the manual during its 25th-anniversary celebration in September next year.
