The United Nations has officially proclaimed 2012
as The Year of the Co-operative. They claim, and I tend to agree, that
co-operatives offer people a unique opportunity for economic and social
development in a time of economic uncertainty. Co-operatives and credit unions
represent their members economically and offer the opportunity for people to
develop their own economic environment. Last week, I was lucky enough to get to
experience the celebrations of International Credit Union Day in the city of Ho
in the Volta Region of Ghana. The celebration of International Credit Union Day
in the International Year of Co-operatives is most definitely something to
experience, no matter where in the world I could be. But I was lucky enough to
be in Ghana, a country that is discovering it’s economic place in the world and
the role that co-operatives play in that system. The credit union movement in
Ghana is a bustling and growing movement with a lot of excitement in the air.
On Friday afternoon a tour bus pulled up outside of
the Credit Union of Association head office where I work. We were all given
matching shirts and hats before approximately fifty of my coworkers and I
boarded the bus. There was a buzz of excitement on the bus for the ride from
Accra to Ho. The bus ride took us about five hours and we arrived at about 8:00
pm in the darkness of the Volta region. We checked into our hotel rooms after
grabbing a quick bite to eat.
The next morning I walked to the Polytechnic, where
the celebrations were being held, with a group of colleagues. Ho is a
relatively small city and the Volta region is known for being very lush and
green. The walk to the Polytechnic made this apparent.
The Credit Union Day celebrations started off with
a dance crew entertaining the crowd as they trickled in. The crowd of three or
four hundred was made up of members of the credit union movement of Ghana,
representing every kind of credit union movement member from every region of
the country. There were board members, employees, management, and everything
else involved with credit unions. The celebrations started off with an opening
prayer. The MC asked the audience if anybody felt moved by the spirit and
wanted to give a blessing for the festivities. Several audience members offered
to speak. The MC chose one of the volunteers and he stood up and gave thanks
and spoke his piece on the gathering. After the prayer several special
dignitaries were introduced and asked to give a brief word. People spoke about
the UN declaration of the International Year of Co-operatives and the value of
the co-op model to places like Ghana. It was really interesting to hear leaders
in the developing world speak about the value of co-ops in development.
As the day rolled on, representatives from the
Credit Union Association of Ghana spoke about current issues in the credit
union movement. There were discussions on the problems with high delinquency
rates and new exciting software that CUA has made available to credit unions. After
every few speakers there would be a short break from the ceremonies for more
music and more dancing.
-Joel
