OCTOBER marks the celebration of the cooperative month in the country. This year's theme is centralized on Cooperatives as Partners for Building Resilient and Empowered Communities Towards a Better and Stronger Philippines.
The month-long celebration is packed with the list of activities for the enrichment and development of the sector. The confirmation of participation for the 14th National Summit to be held in Lanang, Davao City just ended last September 29. The summit will be on October 2-5 with the theme, "Overcoming Challenges, Succeeding Together Under One Apex".
The Cooperative Development Authority noted that the cooperative summit is the biggest gathering of cooperatives nationwide. The purpose of which is to answer and mobilize cooperatives and advocates to address urgent and strategic issues confronting the sector. The summit organizers are expecting thousands of co-op leaders to attend the activity.
In the regional level, CDA in partnership with CAR Cooperative Development Council scheduled the regional co-op celebration on October 26-27 to be held in Tabuk City, Kalinga. The activity will highlight on the Credit Surety Fund, tools for best practices, cooperative governance and management and financial performance of cooperatives.
The topics to be discussed are in response to the International Cooperative Alliance's Vision 2020 of making the sector a leader in economic, social and environmental sustainability; a business model preferred by people and; a fast-growing form of enterprise.
Meanwhile, the Benguet Provincial Co-op Council headed by Miguel Luma-ang in partnership with the Provincial Government will be conducting the 9th Benguet Co-op Convention on October 17 at the Benguet Sports Complex, Wangal, La Trinidad. The convention will focus on the awarding of top performing coops and the updates on the status of co-ops in Benguet.
This year, the La Trinidad Local Government Unit in partnership with the province will be sponsoring the conduct of the Gender and Development Training for the members of GAD committees in co-ops. The speakers will be emphasizing on the importance of mainstreaming GAD in the different co-op policies.
In La Trinidad, the coop month celebration comprises of the implementation of COOPlympics, Product Development Seminar on the 22nd and the Cooperative Congress on the 24th. One of the highlights of the congress will be the presentation of the research of Saint Louis University entitled, Technology generated techniques as evidence of value-based governance of cooperatives: A tool to empower cooperatives as agents of change.
The co-op month celebration is gaining support from the different agencies of the government because of the improved performance of the sector in the economic development of the country. It has been noted by the Department of Trade and Industry that micro, small and medium enterprises including co-ops compose more than ninety percent of the sector contributing to the economic growth of the Philippines.
I also commend the support of the Department of the Interior and Local Government given to the celebration of the coop moth as embodied in its Memorandum Circular No. 2018-153.
Let the celebration be a symbol of empowered cooperative movement responding to the needs of communities.
