The ICA welcomed members from Nepal and Korea to Cooperative House in Brussels last week. Both delegations met with the Director General of the ICA, Mr. Bruno Roelants, to showcase what they do for cooperatives in their respective countries, and it was also an opportunity for the ICA to explain its history, current status, and future plans.
The National Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation Limited (NAACFL) from Nepal, which represents 71 of the 77 districts in the country, explained how the organisation was working to help small-scale farmers in Nepal through integration and inclusion. One of their main targets is to achieve 85% women’s participation in cooperatives, and they’re also working on youth retention in agriculture.
As part of their development activities, NACCFL is striving to establish at least 100 primary cooperatives each year, and build a strong cadre of “social leaders”. They also shared news about the growing cooperative consumer brand “Kisan Ko Poko” or “Farmers’ Basket”.
NACCFL was en-route to Rome where they will participate in the launch of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming – an initiative the federation is national secretariat of, for implementing activities in Nepal. NACCFL also recently collaborated with the ICA-EU partnership funded Aroundtheworld.coop documentary project, and has just become a member of the World Farmers Organization which forms COPAC together with the ICA, ILO, FAO, and UNDESA.
There was also a meeting with the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives (KFCC), which is a leader in aggregating community credit cooperatives in the Republic of Korea, and which has seen exponential growth in the last decade.
Their development activities are spread across Myanmar, Lao PDR, and Uganda, as well as initiatives in their home country. Members of this delegation discussed the role of artificial intelligence and its threat to the cooperative movement with the ICA team, and also shared their thoughts on how the KFCC could better serve the community finance sector and its members, among other issues.
