September 24, another productive and successful day in Bangladesh.
Today was the final day of the workshop and we were able to synthesize all of the learning and theory into a number of recommendations that were presented to the conference and will be acted upon at the three levels of Credit Unions in Asia. Firstly we made recommendation to individual Credit Unions, knows as “Primaries” in Asia, to the national federations, and to the Asian Confederation of Credit Unions. We came up with some excellent plans and it is now up to those three levels to implement them and take action if these plans are ultimately going to have the desired impact of attracting young members to Credit Unions as a way to reduce poverty.
Judging by the excitement of the group, I think that they have a good chance of seeing at least some of these recommendations be implemented. In fact, I further explored the city and went to a local shopping centre (Bashundhara City, a 21 story modern complex that houses the largest shopping mall in South Asia)after the workshop and presentation, with Derek Cameron and Tapon Rodrigues ( a young Credit Union Director and native of Dhaka). Over a drink in the food court I was thrilled by Tapon’s excitement. He came to the conference with little in the way of expectations and is now very excited about the prospect for making changes in his Credit Union. He has already spoken to the Chair of his Board of Directors about some of the initiatives and programs that he would like to implement and he has developed a two year plan and timetable to measure his success. I’m certain that his enthusiasm and renewed passion will have a real and positive effect on the Credit Union system in Bangladesh and hopefully it will help to lift at least some people out of their unimaginable poverty. Education as well as products and services designed to encourage savings and thrift are extremely powerful tools to help people break their shackles of extreme poverty.
Tomorrow I will be spending the day with a group of conference attendees visiting at least one local Credit Union. I’m looking forward to seeing it in action and comparing it to what we are used to in Canada.
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2 comments:
From this experience, what information and knowledge do you plan on bringing back to assist Hamilton Community Credit Union?
The realities are that we are in very different environments. The Credit Union system here is considerably different than it is at home and at this point I am not sure what learnings can be applied to our situation at home.
The one thing that I have been thinking about a fair bit is Micro Credit and how that model might be applied on a somewhat less micro scale to help Canadians. That said, the model that they are using here is far too simple and small scale to be of any real benefit to Canadians. Loans of a few dollars to start finance the sale of bananas or to drive a rickshaw simply won't cut it in our context.
Other possibilities could revolve around providing additional education around the need for savings for both short and longer term goals as well. The new Tax-Free Savings Account (the government sponsored savings plan set for implementation in 2009) could prove an excellent opportunity for exactly that and we will certainly consider this when I get back.
Thanks for the feedback.
Malcolm
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