A Celebration of the Achievements of Cooperative Certificates by IGGs in Tolon District

On Friday 10^th of March, 2017 a durbar was organised at the Tolon Chief’s palace to celebrate and present cooperative certificates to Income Generating Groups (IGGs) International Service Volunteers work with in the Tolon District.

These Income Generating Groups (IGGs) are women’s groups found in Tolon and its surrounding communities. These project communities include; Dundo, Dimabi Yapala, Yoggu, Kangbagu, Wayamba and Tolon town where two of the IGGs are based. These IGGs are mainly into shea butter and rice processing as their main production and two of the groups in Tolon are into dressmaking.

ICS in partnership with NFED Tolon has been working tirelessly for about two years with the IGGs in the Tolon District to bring improvement in the lives of the people and also increase the production of the local businesses of the women. As most of the groups are mainly into shea butter and rice processing, a lot of research was done by the past volunteers to find out a strategy that can improve and sustain their production. 

Registering the groups as cooperatives was found to be beneficial. The volunteers went to all the communities and the women were given training sessions on how to become cooperatives. The IGGs had to have some important documents before they could be registered as cooperatives, therefore training was given on how to draw a constitution, keep financial records and keep minutes which would allow them to become registered. The training sessions were successfully understood and taken into practice.

Rahman addressing the women of Dundo about the benefits of cooperatives.

All the IGGs went through the necessary procedures to be registered as cooperatives. The past cohort guided them to apply for the certificates and it was successfully done. Now a follow up activity was done to figure out how far the cooperative registration had gone, NFED and cohort 6 of ICS has gotten the certificates for the groups. A durbar was organised and all the groups were invited to come and celebrate and receive their cooperative certificates, CEO of International Service also attended to witness and present the certificates to the groups. The regional NFED staff members were also present to witness and advise the IGGs on how best the certificates could improve their businesses.

The CEO of International Service presenting the women of Dundo with their cooperative certificate.

Now let’s talk about what cooperatives are. Cooperatives are businesses that are owned and democratically controlled by their members the people who buy their goods or use their services, not by investors. In other words, a cooperative is a group of people with common socio-economic interests or needs who have come together voluntarily to solve such needs. Cooperatives are formed by their members when the marketplace fails to provide needed goods or services of acceptable quality or at affordable prices.

Advantages of cooperative registration:

·        Easy formation: Compared to the formation of a company, formation of cooperative society is easy. Any more than ten adult people can voluntarily form themselves into an association and get it registered with the Registrar of Co-operatives.

·        Social service: The basic philosophy of cooperatives is self-help and mutual help. Thus, cooperative foster fellow felling among their members and inculcate moral values in them for a better living.

·        State assistance: Government had adopted cooperatives as an effective instrument of socio-economic change. Hence, the Government offers a number of grants, loans, and financial assistance to the cooperative groups – to make their working more effective.

·        Perpetual assistance: A cooperative society has a separate legal entity. Therefore, the death, insolvency, retirement, lunacy, etc., of the members do not affect the core existence of the cooperative society.

Cooperatives can also empower people to improve their quality of life and enhance their economic opportunities through self-help. Also, registering as a cooperative can increase the confidence of a group when applying for a loan or other financial support. There is also more support from NGOs to expand your business as cooperative IGG is a widely recognised certificate.

Now the IGGs can gain support and benefits from organisations, banks, resource personnel and more as they are now registered as cooperatives.

The IGGs and Team Tolon volunteers celebrating after the presentation of cooperative certificates.

Rahman and Gifty