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ICA has launched a forum for its members to participate...Read moreThoughts on the ICA-AP Youth Summit 2.0
Written by Balu Iyer, Regional Director- ICA-Asia and Pacific, 2018-11-05 11:34:13
Why hold the Second Asia-Pacific Cooperative
Youth Summit Lamac Barangay in Pinamugajan Municipality, Cebu Province, the
Philippines? A good question! When we were discussing the idea of a Youth
Summit in 2015, we felt it should be different in terms of place and program.
The considerations for a place were: not a big city (definitely not the
capital); opportunity to experience culture and local living; facilities for
outdoor activities; and managed within the co-operative ecosystem (transport,
stay, visits, shop). The mountainous Barangay of Lamac in Pinamugajan (name
comes from the Cebuano word “pinamu-ohan”, which means a worker’s share in the
harvest, depicting the mostly agricultural community) offered all these. Lamac
was chosen because it is home to Lamac Multi-Purpose Cooperative (LMPC) and to showcase the Organic Tourism Farm set up
by Justine Limocon and Kevin Palson, the winners of the 2016 First Cooperative
Youth Summit Co-op Pitch in Bali.
A little
over two-hour’s drive from Cebu, Lamac is the Hidden Valley Wave Pool Resort run by LMPC. LMPC was started in 1973 by 70 tenant tillers
and small farm owners with an initial capital P3,500 (US$70). Today LMPC has
total assets of P1.5 billion (US$30 million), share capital of P429.9 million
(US$8.6 million), and deposits of P611.5 million (US$12 million). Why should
the luxury of lazing by the pool or enjoying the waves in a wave pool be just
the past time of city folks and the well-heeled? Why can’t our farmers enjoy
downtime with their family in resort settings? These were the thoughts the
board and staff of LMPC, wrestled with when deciding to build the Hidden Valley
Wave Pool Resort (See Co-operatives Build a Community).
The 147
youth representing 17 countries from the time they landed in Cebu had an
experience of a lifetime. Cebu Gov. Hilario P. Davide III who was informed
about the Summit was very particular about security and arranged a security
escort from Cebu airport to Pinamugajan; which did help navigate the traffic (yes,
there is traffic jam even in Cebu!). Mayor Glenn Baricuatro and the town of
Pinamugajan arranged a rousing welcome parade, hoisting of country flags, and a
ceremonial welcome dinner. Rachel Chao, the Chocolate Queen of Cebu took the youth through her journey
in promoting locally grown cacao and in the process putting Philippines in the
world map of chocolate. “Each of us can play our part in supporting local
products and in empowering our farmers. We need to be passionate and put our
love into whatever we do.” The rural immersion program arranged by the
youth brigade of LMPC included hands on work in rice plantation,
vermicomposting, grafting, spinning coir, and feeding cattle. The highlight was
the lunch cook by the residents of Lamac Barangay and shared with all the
participants! The youth has the opportunity to wade in the wave pool, laze in
the infinity pool at the Resort and swim with whale sharks in Oslob. On the
penultimate evening, Cebu Gov. Davide III graciously opened the doors of the
Cebu Provincial Capital Building to the participants and treated them to a
cultural show and dinner. In his welcome address he said, “Seeing you all
tonight also inspires us to empower and engage more Cebuano youth to also start
worthwhile initiatives that will further develop our communities here in Cebu
Province.”
We had an
impressive list of young people talk to the youth about their journey in
co-operatives. 11 years (yes!) young, Zoe Clavel, an Aflatoun saver from a cooperative
in Iloilo in the Philippines is saving not only money but also the earth! She
sees her young group as caretaker which build a better planet! Kanupriya
Saigal epitomizes the spirit of her start-up, ‘Beepositive.’ A start-up mentored
under IIT Delhi’s Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment program, it aims to
create a network of thousands of sustainable owner-operated beekeeping
businesses which work together as cooperatives in communities across India. “We
need to provide alternate sources of income to framers, especially women,
through activities they can do on their own. Beekeeping is a Goldmine - “A
BIG business in a small box!”
Trinh Thi
Ly is one of the co-founders of the Sinh Duoc Cooperative. The cooperative
is located in Ninh Binh provice known for Halong Bay, stunning landscapes, and
lush rice fields. The cooperative consisting of youth and farmers aims is
working to develop the Sinh Duoc Ecosystem by reviving local medicinal herbs,
creating environmentally friendly products out the herbs and developing
community tourism to promote local products, local culture and local living.
Younggi Kwon, a PhD student at the Sungkonghoe University,
who attended the First Summit was back with two of his friends Wooyeol Sim
and Yi Doo Yeong (both running co-operatives dealing with alternative
education). Kwon is involved with CoopY a cooperative which was started in
2013 by the students and faculty at the Sungkonghoe University. CoopY
carries out research and management consulting for social economy enterprises
and co-operatives. This business helps bring in money to organize the ‘Youth
Cooperative Conference,’ which has been organized every year since
2012.
Samiramis Shahesmaili from Iran is a member of the Barg-e-No
Research and Training cooperative and the Rah-e-Roshd Cooperative Educational
and Cultural Complex. Barg-e-No is a newly-formed research and training
cooperative institute started to raise public awareness about cooperatives and
introduce the cooperative model as a viable option to make a better world.
Samiramis spoke about her work in helping women involved in needlework to
understand their art, raise awareness about rights and use co-operatives as a
medium of empowerment. Yonten Dorji from Bhutan is the Chairperson of
the Shamo Zhimpo Production Youth Cooperative. Dorji has received specialized
training in the cultivation of mushrooms and is now in the process of training
other youth, expanding membership in the cooperative, and contributing to
sustainable agriculture.
Co-op Pitch
is to hear from youth their ideas to start or expand co-operatives. We had 12
pitchers representing eight countries (China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia,
Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam). The panel of judges included
Kanupriya Saigal, Milinda Raapaksha, Member, Colombo Municipal
Council; Viknesh Rajendran, Chief Executive Officer,
Koperasi Coop2u Berhad, Malaysia; Mark Villarin, Chairperson of RedRoot Artists Cooperative, Philippines; and Santosh
Kumar, ICA-AP. They judged the pitches on five parameters: compliance with
co-operative principles, scalability, innovation, presentation skills and
relevance to youth. The pitches were diverse from developing solar
cooperatives to using drones to improve agriculture to developing alternative
education tracks to addressing livelihood issues.
The first prize was won by Jun Long from Singapore for his pitch,
Skyla Energy, a solar co-operative which aims to provide a complete customized
energy service within a co-operative ecosystem. The second prize was shared by
Trinh Thi Ly from Sinh Duoc Cooperative from Vietnam and the team from
MiFly Aviation Cooperative from China. Trinh’s pitch was to develop the
co-operative ecosystem around their herbal cooperative by adding experiential
tourism (herb, place, living). Mifly’s pitch, Drone Crop Protection from above
and beyond was to build a ‘Green Agriculture Network’ to provide customized
drone care crop protection, collect data, and community service. Two honorable
mentions to Koperasi Kopma UGM from Indonesia for their pitch to increase the
livelihood opportunities for SMEs around campuses, and the Iloilo City Public
Schools Teachers and Employees-Multi-Purpose Cooperative, from the Philippines
for their pitch to produce lozenges using locally grown herbs to address common
cold and respiratory issues.
It was very exciting to see and feel the energy, enthusiasm,
excitement among the youth gathered. Concern for the state of the
environment, widening gap between the rich and poor, lack of leaders who could
inspire and walls being erected to keep out people were on the minds of the
youth. The desire to address local needs while connecting across borders was
very evident. Much credit for the interest the youth have for co-operatives
goes to the apex and parent co-operatives for reaching out to the youth,
providing them space and opportunities to learn, experiment and develop.
My
gratitude to Wan Mohd. Hasif Wan Muhamat Ali, Daniel Ang, Sébastien Chaillou,
Lasalette Gumban, Brian Lariche, Tomas Leonor, Hilda Ojall, Benjie Oliva, Ankit
Parihar, Noland Penas, and Jed Senthil for mentoring and motivating the youth.
Special thanks to the board, staff and volunteers of LMPC for being an
outstanding example of a cooperative which is bridging the past and the future.
Dudz and his team at VICTO National and volunteers from our members for their
wholehearted support. Our members in the Philippines- Aurora Integrated Multipurpose Cooperative, Cooperative Development Authority, Federation of People's Sustainable Development Coop, MASS-SPECC Coop Development Center, National Confederation of Coops Inc., Philippine Cooperative Center, VICTO National Coop Federation
& Development Center, and Union of Legitimate
Service Contracting Coops – for supporting and building a network of young
cooperators. My colleagues Anam Mittra, Mohit Dave, and Santosh Kumar for bringing
us all together and delivering a terrific program!
Article by Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-Asia Pacific