International Credit Union Day in Ghana

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.

 

 

As I rode back to Accra on the bus I thought to myself “these are the people who make the co-operative movement in Ghana possible.” The credit union movement in Ghana, and in Africa in general, is growing and only now finding its feet. The International Year of Co-operatives has been celebrating the role of credit unions and is helping the people of the developing world discover economic freedom. I strongly feel that the Credit Union Association of Ghana is helping people find their own economic freedom.

-Joel