Some time ago, representatives of Asian cooperatives respectively their umbrella organisations and AWCF (Asian Women Cooperatives Forum) and a representative of InWEnt met in Philippines. The result of the meeting was that an idea for a fruitful cooperation project in the field of ICT development for cooperatives was born and discussed. As main objective of this cooperation it was agreed that especially women members of cooperatives should benefit from the project and be enabled to join this new development and profit from capacity building.
The overall objective as was soon agreed upon is:
“The project supports an economically sustainable development of cooperatives and their umbrella organisations”.
The three components of this objective, which are at the same time the operational objectives of the project, are:
Now, about one and a half years and several meetings and workshops later, the project really takes shape and gathers momentum. The third workshop in this project in Cavite City, Philippines in November 2004, saw the representatives of AWCF and the three umbrella organisations CULT (Credit Union League of Thailand) FORMASI (Forum for Cooperatives Development) Indonesia and NATTCO (National Confederation of Cooperatives) Philippines, and InWEnt discussing and agreeing on the further steps to roll out the whole project.
On the basis of TNA (training needs analyses) which have been financed by InWEnt and carried out by consultants prior to this workshop and specifically contracted for this task in the three participating countries, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand the workshop participants were able to elaborate and formulate in five very intensive days the framework of a curriculum for the training of trainers/multipliers - by country -, the steps to enhance the establishment of ICT supported business development centres and the outline and steps to be undertaken - and by whom - to create a network among the cooperatives on national and trans-national levels.
In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives the “to dos”, the “what”, “why”, “when” and (done) by “whom” were developed in the whole group. Thus the contributions of the projects partners were determined. InWEnt’s contribution is mainly in the field of the trainers’ training and support of network development, whereas the contributions of AWCF and the umbrella organizations focus on the support and enhancement of selected cooperatives for sending training candidates, developing ICT-supported Business Development Centres and in general making ICT accessible for individual cooperatives in order to help them to become more competitive on the market.
In the beginning it seemed as if all three countries could be covered by one training programme. But due to different cultures and languages and also different geographical conditions one result of this workshop was the realization that three approaches for curricula, varying at different degrees, had to be adopted for the three countries.
It goes almost without saying that the working atmosphere during the workshops was always cooperative, dedicated and …..just very good! Not to mention the input of individual participants who contributed be it through their experience and know-how or motivating energizers to increase the productivity of the work of the whole group.
By the end of these five days not only the results were quite presentable but also friendships among the participants have been intensified or newly developed which is, in addition to a thorough planning and financing another vital pilar for a good implementation and sustainability of the project.
When, due to some shortcomings of one of the consultants there was a disturbance in the whole set-up of the workshop, first of all the respective (country) working group made a lot up with enormous effort, but also the other participants were very accomodating so that by the end of the workshop, this group as well, was able to present a really good basis for a curriculum for a training of trainers.
As a whole, thanks to the dedication and high quality input into the workshop of all participants, a good basis for a successful project has been established.