Projects
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AWCF and NATCCO shared their GE expertise to JCCU members  Two AWCF officers served as resource persons in the “2008 Japanese Consumers’ Cooperative Union (JCCU) Gender Equality Seminar” held on November 14, 2008 at JCCU’s Tokyo office in Japan. Ms Sally Ganibe, AWCF Executive Director, and Ms Norma Pereyras, AWCF Vice President for Internal Affairs and the concurrent Women Representative to the Board of Directors (BODs) of the National Confederation of Co-operatives (NATCCO), shared their personal experiences as well as their organizational efforts in promoting gender equality (GE) within and through co-operatives. Their sharing, particularly the different strategies wherein GE can be promoted within co-operatives, were well appreciated by the 104 participants (80 percent women) who attended this seminar representing Saitama Co-op, Chiba Co-op, and Pal System Tokyo. This seminar was preceded by a study visit to Saitama Co-op located at Saitama Prefecture in Tokyo Metropolitan area, a co-op with a membership of at least 770,000 individual members. Conduct of this seminar was aimed to:
AWCF Shares its Expertise on TL and Co-ops to Selected Asian Government Officials
KFPC HRD Consultant Gave a Lecture on Gender Equality Mr. Olle Ingemarsson of Posten Meddelande AB and concurrently one of KF Project Center’s (KFPC) HRD Consultant visited the Philippines last 22-25 September 2008 to serve as main resource person and moderator for the “Educational Workshop 2: Gender Equality (GE) Manual and Local GE Action Plan Guidance” held in Burnham Suites Hotel, Baguio City. In this workshop, aside from monitoring the development of the GE Action Plan of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) and three of its primary co-ops in Northern Luzon, he also shared some of Swedish companies’ good practices on GE as basis in further refining the participants’ respective GE Manuals (refer to related article). He is expected to return to the Philippines in December 2008 for the next educational workshop.
Promotion of PREMIE in co-ops ruled by women in Camarines Sur The Project “Building Business Management Skills in Small Co-operatives Ruled by Women in Camarines Sur” was implemented in Camarines Sur Province, Bicol Region, Philippines. Partners in the Project were AWCF; the Camarines Sur Government (CSG), Philippines; Diputacion Foral de Bizkaia (DFB); Technological and Innovation Cente (LABEIN), Spain; and Centre Epimorfotiki Kilkis, Greece. The Project involved the implementation, digitalization, and dissemination of the "PREMIE," a business management methodology, in 10 co-ops ruled or led by women in Camarines Sur. Some of the co-ops are affiliates of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), AWCF's member in the Philippines. The Project was supported by the European mission under the "Asia Urbs Program," which promotes urban cooperation between governments in Europe and South/Southeast Asia.
The PREMIE The PREMIE Manual is a self-training module/kit, an important contribution to the body of work that caters to the needs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). More than being a how-to book, the Manual's different modules provide a framework to assess the management and organization of SMEs, to allow the leadership and staff to see where they are and how they can achieve success. The participating co-ops After a thorough selection process, the CSG selected the 10 co-operatives that were to be involved in the Project. The selection considered both the project objectives and the political aims of the CSG. The selected primary co-ops have members from all walks of life. The co-ops range from having a very small membership (22 members) to maintaining a large one (7,500 members). The assets of the co-ops range from US$5,000 to US$600,000. All of them are engaged in savings and lending services, and two co-ops are into production and marketing. Co-operative profiling and pre-assessment of the participating co-ops were conducted to set up benchmarks. These activities were continuously undertaken before and after the kick-off meeting of all partners in the Philippines on June 17-20, 2002. The gathering of updated co-operative profile was thereafter done every six months. The profiling was done, among its other objectives, to show a "then and now" progress picture of the co-ops during and after the PREMIE implementation. Development and packaging of GAD materials for agrarian reform communities For the Philippines's Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), AWCF engaged in the development and packaging of the "Guidebook on the Conduct of Gender-Based Effectiveness Skills (G-BEST) Training Program" for Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) and its accompanying "Resource Book," based on the conduct by DAR of four batches of G-BEST for regional and provincial ARB Training Officers. The Guidebook and Resource Book are designed for the ARB Training Officers, Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) Core Trainers, and members of the Education Committee of the co-ops/organizations in Agrarian Reform Areas (ARAs), and other gender and development (GAD) trainers. These trainers, in turn, will train ARBs and other members of the ARAs. Another output of AWCF's work with DAR is the "Handbook on Mainstreaming Gender Concerns in ARAs" and its accompanying "Resource Book," which captures the content, processes, methodologies, experiences, reflections, results, and lessons learned based on the conduct of two batches of G-BEST for ARB leaders. Assessment of organizations in forest management program AWCF provided technical assistance to the Philippines's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the Project “Assessment of Organizational Stability of Participating People's Organizations (POs)/Co-ops in the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) Program and Extent of Gender Integration Therein.” The assessment looked into the POs'/co-ops' organizational stability and strength, financial and business management capability, extent of gender awareness and integration within the organization, and their forest management capability. Likewise, the assessment looked into the CBFM staff's knowledge and skills needs vis-a-vis co-op organizing and strengthening. AWCF's technical assistance included the development of a handbook on assessing CBFM POs/co-ops, which includes the diagnostic tools developed by AWCF composed of the framework, user's guide, and interview schedule. The CBFM taps the POs/co-ops for the efficient and effective management and safeguarding of the forest and its resources. Assessing the POs/co-ops will help the DENR in identifying what further technical assistance it can provide to these organizations to become viable, strong, and, in the long term, sustainable community-based organizations that manage collectively owned, forest-based business enterprises. Gender-based study in four co-ops in four communities With NORLU CEDEC (Northern Luzon Federation of Co-operatives and Development Center), then an affiliate of NATCCO, AWCF conducted the “A Gender-Based Study of Four Co-operatives in Four Communities for the Diocesan Co-operatives Development Council, Inc. (DCDCI).” The purpose was to help DCDCI know the gender-based and gender-differentiated needs of the individual members of its affiliate-primary co-ops. The study was used by DCDCI, together with its Belgian donor, to determine ways to improve, alter or develop co-op programs, services and activities that address these needs. Gender consultancy in Western Samar AWCF provided the “Gender Consultancy for the EU-funded Western Samar Agricultural Resources Development (WESAMAR) Project, Western Samar, Visayas Region,” specifically for the WESAMAR project management and partner non-government and people’s organizations. The services provided included a series of consultancy meetings with the management team and key implementors; designing and facilitating workshops to generate ideas and develop mechanisms on gender integration; providing ideas to WESAMAR management through a series of gender-related training to WESAMAR project managers, staff, and partner-institutions; and development of a Gender Integration Plan and System (GIPS) for the project in the areas of community organizing, project appraisal, and monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation and documentation study for women workers in the putting-out system AWCF conducted the “Evaluation and Documentation Study of the ILO-DANIDA Sub-Regional Project on Women Workers in the Putting-Out System,” entitled "From Homeworkers to Co-operatives: An Assessment of the Suitability of the Co-operative Model as a Mechanism for Sustainability of Three Women Homeworkers' Associations in Indonesia." AWCF services were requested by the ILO Regional office for Asia and Pacific in Bangkok. The study involved the writing of three case studies, assessment of the sustainability of social protection schemes for women homeworkers, and assessment of the suitability of the co-op model for sustainability. Training consultancy for partner-organizations of INCODAP The "Basic Gender Awareness Seminar" was held for five partner-organizations of the Indonesia Co-operative Development Assistance Program (INCODAP) Phase II, a project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and executed by the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), Puncak Pass, Bogor. With a training team, AWCF contributed to the design of the seminar and handled the "Gender Issues in Co-operatives" session. Then, AWCF reviewed and edited the proceedings of the seminar, and submitted an analytical report to CCA containing the assessment of the partners' readiness and capacity for a gender program in their respective organizations as well as recommendations for CCA's overall gender strategy in the INCODAP II project. Training consultancy for trainers’ training on gender analysis For the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), Philippines, AWCF supervised the conduct of the “Training of Trainers on Gender Analysis," a regional activity of the "Gender-Responsive Development Planning in the MHA," a UNDP-funded project for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) of Indonesia. AWCF made sure that the training was conducted with the Indonesian context taken into account. AWCF supervised and provided input in the documentation and production of proceedings of the training. Entrepreneurship training consultancy for FES AWCF conceptualized and developed the training design for Friedrich Ebert Stiftung for an entrepreneurship training for women small business owners and leaders of women-only co-operatives in East Java. AWCF also organized the training by identifying resource persons and participants, and contributed to the documentation of the proceedings of the training. Gender integration consultancy for ILO-DANIDA AWCF led a project team in the design and conduct of the gender awareness training component of the “ILO-DANIDA Project on Co-op Enterprises on Rural Development.” AWCF contributed the article "Gender Issues in Co-operative Entrepreneurship" and a case study on one community-based, multi-purpose co-op for the final project report published by the ILO. Training consultancy rural women’s program AWCF organized and conducted a training course for ILO-Philippines’s fellowship program for Pakistani nationals. The "Organization and Management of Training, Employment and Income-generating Projects for Rural Women" training course was held for six weeks. The course had lectures, field and exposure visits to co-ops, women's organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) with income-generating projects for women; and government agencies providing skills training on small business, practical skills and non-traditional trades for women. Training consultancy for the ICA ROAP AWCF presented a lecture on "Basic Concepts on Gender and their Manifestations in the Co-operative Movement" for 25 international participants, part of the training consultancy for the International Co-operative Alliance Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (ICA ROAP)’s “Consultation Meeting on Gender Integration and Women in Co-operative Development.” Evaluation of Women's World Banking Programs in Asia For the CCA and as commissioned by CIDA, AWCF evaluated the Women's World Banking's effectiveness in providing appropriate programs and services to its affiliates in Asia. Visits were made to three affiliates in India and in the Philippines.
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