AWCF’s member-organizations are AWCF’s partners for the FK Project. The member-organizations’ staff are posted overseas in the host-members for 10 months. As a human resource development exchange activity, the Project implemented since 2008 seeks to propel solidarity and collaboration between and among the AWCF members; enhance AWCF members’ capacity in the delivery of services; and harness young professionals in acquiring expertise on gender mainstreaming, co-operative services (financial intermediation and micro-finance), sustainable agriculture (marketing and agricultural extension), co-op and credit union development, training and education, and information technology (IT) for development. Aside from gaining professional (work) enrichment to be used especially for their co-op involvement back home, each batch’s participants are also expected to have personal development as they learn to relate with the people, language, and culture in their host-organization and host-country. The participants may actually find themselves in some situations that may not be really be so far off from their own Asian background, but their greater understanding of certain aspects in different cultures and countries will hopefully be an asset to their professional and personal development.
Phase 4 or fourth batch of the AWCF exchange Project was done in October 2011-August 2012. Participants in Phase 4 were young professionals Mr. Ranie B. Catimbang, assigned as Research Documentation Specialist to Credit Union Promotion Club (CUPC) in Malaysia; Ms Ella Marie P. Francia, assigned as Business Development Officer to Forum for Indonesian Co-operatives Movement (FORMASI Indonesia) in Indonesia; Mr. Jason P. Isidro, posted as Information Officer to Credit Union League of Thailand (CULT) in Thailand; Mr. Oung Mean, assigned as Credit Union Technical Officer to CULT; and Mr. Hoang Viet Muoi, posted as Extension Programmer and Researcher to National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO) in the Philippines and AWCF.
Three important events were held in 2012 for Phase 4, which were the: “Midterm Project Review Meeting,” “Phase 5 Planning Workshop,” and “Homecoming Seminar”--
Midterm Project Review Meeting: May 22, 2012, Bangkok, Thailand. Attended by AWCF’s member-organizations being the exchange Project’s partners, the Meeting was done to monitor the progress of the Project’s Phase 4. The Project partners reported on the activities, results, and learning of individual exchange program participants, and of the sending and hosting organizations. The Project partners agreed on revisions on the participants’ tasks and other matters related to their activities. They also agreed on some revisions on the Project’s budget that were presented to and approved by FK Norway.
Phase 5 Planning Workshop: May 23-24, 2012, Bangkok. The same participants in the earlier Meeting held this Planning Workshop. They identified the necessary next steps that will enable the Project to meet its five-year objectives. It was the last year of the Project, thus the Planning Workshop’s participants made an internal assessment of the Project’s objectives, results, and gaps. But a new collaboration agreement was formulated during this planning among six partners (AWCF, CULT, CUPC, Center of Agricultural Extension Volunteers [CAEV], FORMASI Indonesia, and Socio-Economic Development Organization of Cambodia [SEDOC]). This collaboration agreement will involve the exchange program’s Phase 5, to be held from October 2012 to October 2013. Phase 5 will see five exchange program participants who will teach and learn along the areas of business development centers, gender equality (GE), and documentation in their host-organizations.
Homecoming Seminar (Debriefing): October 22-23, 2012, Bangkok. The Phase 4 participants and AWCF partner-organizations’ representatives attended this activity, facilitated by FK Norway. There was a presentation of partners’ and participants’ experiences, learning, and challenges.
Phase 5 begins
Phase 5 of the AWCF exchange Project with FK Norway began in October 2012 to last 10 months. The participants in Phase 5 are: Mr. Romnick L. Pascua, posted as Co-op Business Development Officer to CAEV; Ms Natasha Erika Jane H. Siaron, assigned as Credit Union (CU) GE Specialist in CULT; Ms Jeanette F. Moling, posted as Credit Union Business Development Center Specialist in CUPC; Ms Dewi Nova Wahyuni, assigned as Business Development Officer in AWCF; and Mr. Yem Neark, posted as Business and Mutual Aid Technical Staff in CULT.
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| R. Pascua |
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| N. Siaron |
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| J. Moling |
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| D. Wahyuni |
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| Y. Neark |
Important events in 2012 for Phase 5 were the “Partners Course,” and “Preparatory Course”--
Partners Course: October 24-25, 2012, Bangkok. This event was facilitated by FK Norway for AWCF and other partner-agencies (CAI, Asia; Sunlabob; Prosperity Initiatives [PI]; and ESCENIC) to give orientation on the new development concepts and strategies of FK Norway.
Preparatory Course: October 26-November 2, 2012, Bangkok. Facilitated by FK Norway, this event was attended by FK’s partner-agencies, including AWCF, and Phase 5’s participating young professionals in preparation for their deployment to host-organizations. After the first few days of the Preparatory Course, the partner-agencies left the exchange activity’s participants to further undergo the Course, which is a mandatory activity for them. In the Course, resource speakers took turns in leading the participants in discussions and workshops on topics like cross-cultural orientation; taking care of oneself in other countries; human security; logistics; lectures on handling self under different situations; methods of development; communication through various media types; what is FK Norway; and expectations for host and participants. These topics were hoped to help the participants immerse themselves with greater ease and more impact in their host-organizations and host-countries.
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