Day 1 and Day 2 of AWCF's trainers' training on gender for co-ops

Ongoing: The Asian Women in Co-operative Development Forum (AWCF)'s "Training of Trainers (TOT) on Gender in Co-operatives" started September 2, 2014 to last until September 5, 2014. It is being held in one of the hotels in suburban Quezon City in the Philippines, where 33 participants (27 females and 3 males) are taking part. The participants comes from primary and federation co-ops, local government units, and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) of the Philippine government. 

Gender equality is one of the perceived ways of further developing co-ops, particularly in the Philippines where the CDA issued a memorandum circular to all registered co-ops in the country to promote and engage in gender mainstreaming. 

AWCF-FK project has third batch

The second batch of participants in the AWCF project “Capacity-building for Gender and Co-operatives in Asia,” supported by Fredskorpset (FK) Norway since 2008, had its “Homecoming Seminar (Debriefing),” Sept. 29-30, 2010, in Songkhla, Thailand. The third batch of participants—who are staff of AWCF’s member-organizations, as also in the previous batches—is having its preparatory course under FK in Hat Yai, Songkhla, before a year-long deployment to host-countries in latter October 2010. The project allows exchange and building of knowledge and experiences among participating members' staff in various development concerns like gender mainstreaming and co-op development. The third batch of participants interacted with the previous batch on Sept. 30 in Songkhla

What Programs does AWCF have?

AWCF implements activities toward Gender Mainstreaming, Women in Leadership and Decision-Making, Women Entrepreneurship Development, Regional Policy Advocacy, and Advocacy on Support Services for Women.

Gender Mainstreaming

Enabling co-ops, community-based savings and credit organizations, and development non-government organizations (NGOs) and people’s organizations (POs) to mainstream and integrate gender concerns and perspectives in their policies, programs, and activities.

Women in Leadership and Decision-Making

Promoting the increased participation of women in leadership and decision-making in co-ops, community-based savings and credit organizations, and development NGOs and POs engaged in the promotion of co-ops. The varied activities include training on the vision of transformative leadership.

Women Entrepreneurship Development

Enhancing women’s entrepreneurial skills and advocating the mobilization of co-op resources to support women-owned and/or women-managed enterprises. This program also involves advocating for co-ops to set up co-op business development centers (BDCs) to provide services to members who have micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); build capacities of women entrepreneurs, especially those in micro-enterprises; provide micro-finance, education, and skills upgrading, physical space/facilities, access to appropriate low-cost technology, and information and communication technology; and other services.

Regional Policy Advocacy

Analyzing the gender impact of cross-cutting issues affecting co-ops and community-based savings and credit organizations in Asia; and lobbying for policy change supportive of co-ops and women at the local and international levels.

Advocacy on Support Services for Women

Advocating for co-ops to use their resources for support services to women members in response to practical and strategic needs, such as micro-credit, training on non-traditional trades, literacy classes, childcare, and assistance to women victims of violence and their protection.