WANTED: Three young Filipino professionals, for posting abroad as exchange staff.
Deadline for application—July 31, 2012.
The
Asian Women in Co-operative Development Forum (AWCF), a resource center
and advocacy body on gender and co-ops in Asia, has been implementing
for the past years the “Capacity-building for Gender and Co-operatives
in Asia” Project. The Project is an exchange program activity in
partnership with Fredskorpset (FK) Norway, and is entering the Phase 5
of its implementation within the AWCF network. FK Norway is a government
agency that arranges reciprocal exchanges of personnel between
organizations in Norway and developing countries.
The
Project is under FK’s “South-South Exchange” Program. In AWCF’s exchange
program activity, young professionals from AWCF member-organizations
are given the chance to work for 10 months in one of the network’s other
member-organizations. These young professionals can either learn or
teach--depending on the needs identified--in the member-organization to
which each of them are assigned. AWCF’s members are the Center of
Agricultural Extension Volunteers (CAEV), Vietnam; Credit Union League
of Thailand (CULT), Thailand; Credit Union Promotion Club (CUPC),
Malaysia; Forum for Indonesian Co-operatives Movement (FORMASI
Indonesia), Indonesia; National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO),
Philippines; and Socio-Economic Development Organization of Cambodia
(SEDOC), Cambodia.
The exchange program aims at propelling
solidarity and collaboration in the AWCF network, and at capacitating
the various members’ human resource in various fields of expertise like
gender equality; co-operative services (financial intermediation, mutual
benefit, cash management, housing, business development services,
micro-enterprise, and micro-finance); sustainable agriculture (marketing
and agricultural extension); training and education; information and
communication technology (management information system, information
technology-supported business development centers, accounting software);
and other technical skills, such as project development, public
relations, and documentation.
For the exchange program’s
Phase 5, participants will be posted to their assignments from October
2012 to October 2013. And AWCF needs three young Filipino professionals,
22-35 years of age (up to 40 years old for females), to fill up the
following positions:
1. Co-op Business Development Center (BDC) Specialist
(to be posted to CAEV, Vietnam)
Tasks and Responsibilities:
- Contact farmers in project pilot sites to understand their behavior in receiving new and advanced techniques
- Work with CAEV technical staff to help them understand the BDC. Help them in setting up and managing the BDC as well as to strengthen co-ops
- Assist in the development of new products and service offerings of the farmers
- Establish one BDC as a model for other co-ops or for project sites of CAEV to follow
- Develop BDC operations manual and training materials
- Help CAEV technical staff in editing CAEV’s English documents
- Learn the agricultural services for farmers in Vietnam
- Submit monthly report related to the activities and their learning to host and sending partners
- Submit terminal report on the exposure study to host and sending partners
- Learn the basic Vietnamese language
Qualifications:
- University graduate
- One to two years work experience in co-operatives
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Personal qualities: gender-sensitive; good knowledge of BDC development; willing to implement programs/projects; good interpersonal skills; good health; creative; and has entrepreneurial outlook
2. Credit Union Gender Equality (GE) Specialist
(to be posted to CULT, Thailand)
Tasks and Responsibilities:
- Attend preliminary activities, such as basic orientation on CULT and its operations
- Attend exposure study to observe CULT program implementation
- Read documents and attend study visits to primary credit unions (CUs) to learn about the CU movement in CULT
- Develop a GE program in CULT, featuring— a) Gender Needs Survey and Sex-Disaggregated Data;b) Gender Training for Leaders and Staff; c) Develop GE Plan and Budget; d) Create GE Committee/Appoint Gender Focal Person (GFP) Training Program; e) Assist the Education and Training Department staff in producing GE modules and in documentation; f) Assist the Human Resources Section in integrating GE in the Human Resource Policy
- Assist the Human Resources Section in integrating GE in the Human Resource Policy
- Assist the Training and Education Department in promoting GE in two pilot primary CUs, with GE plan developed, budget allocated, and GFP appointed
- Assist International Relations (IR) staff at CULT and primary CU in documentation in English
- Give orientation to primary CUs about the co-op movement in the Philippines
- Submit monthly report related to the activities and their learning to host and sending partners
- Submit terminal report on the exposure study to host and sending partners
- Learn basic Thai language
Qualifications:
- University graduate
- Background knowledge of co-operatives
- Background knowledge of gender mainstreaming
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Personal qualities: good interpersonal skills; good attitude; willing to assist CULT; willing to implement programs/projects; willing to learn; good health; creative
3. Credit Union Business Development Center (BDC) Specialist
(to be posted to CUPC, Malaysia)
Tasks and Responsibilities:
- Review the policies, systems, and procedures of CUPC’s BDC
- Assist in the BDC's systems installation (especially on the BDC fund and financial management)
- In cooperation with CUPC’s staff in charge for the BDC, prepare training modules of co-ops and BDC formation, and also catalogue the training modules
- Facilitate operation of the BDC (e.g., train and enhance the human resources, BDC staff, and National Women and Family Development Committee [NWFDC] of CUPC on conducting training, module preparation, training design preparation, training documentation, and similar activities)
- Facilitate and teach about promoting BDC services
- Conduct field visits to chapters of CUPC to gather data on the current activities on Small and Medium Scale Industries (SMI)
- Read documents on co-op development in the CUPC network and in Malaysia as a whole, and have exposure to some some co-ops
- Submit monthly report related to the activities and their learning to host and sending partners
- Submit terminal report on the exposure study to host and sending partners
- Learn basic Bahasa Malaysia/Basic Tamil language
Qualifications:
- University degree in relevant field, preferably Economics
- Strong background on BDC implementation, especially on training, consultancy, and BDC promotion
- At least two years work experience in business development
- Excellent written and spoken English
- Personal qualities: good interpersonal skills; good attitude; willingness to assist CUPC; willing to implement programs/projects; willing to learn; good health; creative; strong facilitation and leadership skill; able to work independently but is also a team player
Applicants
may send their letter of intent and résumé/curriculum vitae to Ms Sally
A. Ganibe (awcf@coopwomen.org) on or before 31 July 2012. For
inquiries, please contact the AWCF Secretariat in the Philippines at
phone number +632 4387666.
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NOTE:
Two
other participants in this exchange program activity will come from
Indonesia and Cambodia, to be assigned to Philippines and Thailand,
respectively. The selection and hiring of participants from Indonesia
and Cambodia will be done by the AWCF-FK Project partners in those
countries. 
