AWCF shares resources in trainers’ training in Japan

With the invitation from the Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU), the Asian Women in Co-operative Development (AWCF)’s Executive Director Ms Salome Ganibe facilitated a topic during the “Training of Trainers Workshop (Pilot test of Resource Guide)” held February 14, 2013 at the Co-op Plaza, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, Japan. JCCU organized this trainers’ training as an activity of the International Co-operative Alliance-Asia Pacific (ICA-AP)’s Regional Women’s Committee. The 83 participants came from a government Cabinet office (1); member-co-operatives of JCCU (67); JCCU (12); and overseas (3).

Ms Ganibe’s presentation was themed “Co-operative governance through gender equality (GE).” To emphasize the message that the advocacy and practice of GE can improve and expand the leadership and operation of co-ops, she discussed the:

• GE strategy of the ICA
• importance of GE in co-ops
• examples of GE practices and GE mainstreaming culled from Fukui Co-op in Japan, the GE experience of 15 co-ops in the Philippines (that had participated in a three-year GE project of AWCF in the country), and the GE strategy of the Credit Union League of Thailand (CULT), which is AWCF’s member in Thailand.

Participants at this trainers’ training rated their Workshop as “very excellent and worthwhile” mainly because of the sharing during the discussions on the co-op experiences on women empowerment and GE among JCCU member-co-ops, and also of the experiences from other countries shared by Ms Ganibe and Ms Savitri Singh, ICA-AP Advisor, Gender Program and Communication.

In February 2008, JCCU also had Ms Ganibe as a resource person on GE in an event likewise held in Japan, together with Ms Norma Pereyras, a co-op leader and gender advocate from the Philippines, who was then a Board Director (as Women Sector Representative) of the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO)—a Philippine co-op federation.


Other speakers
The Tokyo Workshop’s opening address was given by Ms Rie Saikawa, Organizing Committee and Board Member of Nagano Prefectural Consumer Co-operative Federation; and the welcome address was delivered by Ms Akiko Kawamoto, Organizing Committee and Board Member of Saitama Co-operative. The introduction of the ICA-AP Regional Women’s Committee was done by its Chairperson Ms Hitomi Tanaka, who is also Board Member of JCCU/Saitama Co-operative.

Meanwhile, Ms Savitri introduced to the participants the “Resource Guide for Advanced Training of Co-operatives on Entrepreneurship Development of Women and Gender Equality” that is being developed by the ICA-AP. (This Tokyo Workshop was a trainers’ training for a part of the Resource Guide, specifically Chapter 2, which is the “Cooperative Governance.”)

Exchange of ideas was emceed by Ms Mari Asano, Standing Board Member of Pal System Saitama. The orientation on Japanese co-ops’ initiatives on women focused on the Smile Café Project, as given by Ms Yukari Okumoto, Board Member of Chiba Co-operative; and on the Kanagawa Co-op case study, as given by Ms Masako Masuda, Board Member of Kanagawa Co-op, and Ms Akemi Kawahira, Trainer in Members Activities.

The event’s closing message was shared by Mr. Yoshiya Niwano, Organizing Committee and Board Member of JCCU/Chair of the Touto Consumer Co-operative.

AWCF Executive Director Ms Salome Ganibe (3rd from left, sitting) talked on gender equality at the ICA-AP's trainers' training in Japan. Photo also shows Ms Hitomi Tanaka (2nd from left, standing), ICA-AP Regional Women's Committee (RWC) Chair; Ms Divina Quemi (leftmost, sitting), ICA-AP RWC Vice Chair; Ms Savitri Singh (middle, sitting), ICA-AP Advisor, Gender Program and Communication; and other personalities who attended the trainers' training.