The AWCF is a network of national co-operative organizations and non-government social development agencies promoting co-ops in the Asian region. It was set up in 1990 by its founding members, the Credit Union Promotion Club (CUPC), Malaysia; Credit Union League of Thailand (CULT), Thailand; Forum for Indonesian Cooperatives Movement (FORMASI Indonesia), Indonesia; and National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), Philippines. In 1994, the Center for Agricultural Extension Volunteers (CAEV), Vietnam, also became a member.

AWCF serves as an advocacy center and resource body in promoting gender equality and equity in and through the co-op movement. Specifically as an advocacy body, AWCF promotes gender awareness and integration of gender concerns in co-operatives and social development agencies in the international, regional, and local levels. On the other hand, as a resource body, AWCF assists and provides services to co-op organizations and social development agencies in the areas of gender mainstreaming and co-operative development.

AWCF’s core programs are: gender mainstreaming, women in leadership and decision-making, women entrepreneurship development, regional policy advocacy, and advocacy on support services for women. AWCF is a regional NGO in Special Consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the UN. It is a member of the Conference of NGOs (CONGO), an assembly of NGOs with consultative status with the UN. It is also a member of the Asia Caucus, a grouping of development organizations working in Asia, with offices in the Philippines.



Contact address:
Ms Salome “Sally” Ganibe
Executive Director
Asian Women in Co-operative Development Forum (AWCF)
227 J.P. Rizal Street, Project 4 1109 Quezon City, PHILIPPINES
Telefax (632) 437-4420; Tel. Nos.: (632) 913-70-11 to 14
E-mail: awcf@pacific.net.ph
Website: www.coopwomen.org

CULT is a national organization of credit unions in Thailand, initiated by the private sector. As of 2001, it has 660 primary credit union affiliates. These affiliates have around 300,000 individual members, majority of whom are women. The shares or capital of the members in the credit unions amount to US$30 million. Loans granted to the members have reached US$189 million.

CULT’s programs and activities include: education and training, bookkeeping and accounting, dormitory and meeting room services, credit union chapters promotion, women and youth development, mutual aid in credit union, business enterprise development, and research and publications.

Since 1998, CULT has been taking note of the role and participation of women in co-ops. In fact, part of its organizational structure is a Gender Committee (composed of women and men leaders and staff) elected by the CULT General Assembly. The Gender Committee coordinates and sets the direction for all women’s activities. Every region has also its own Gender Committee that helps the National Gender Committee encourage women members to actively participate in the development of credit unions in Thailand.

CULT has also set up its Women Co-operative Productive Development Center (WCPC) The Center helps sustain women cooperatives’ initiatives to create and develop products, such as through support in marketing and product development/design.

CULT is one of the founding members of the Asian Women in Co-operative Development Forum (AWCF), a regional body in Asia that serves as an advocacy center and resource body in promoting gender equality and equity in and through the co-op movement.

Contact address:
Mr. Sahaphon Sangmek
General Manager
Credit Union League of Thailand (CULT)
56/2 Moo 3 Ramkhamhaeng Road, Sapansoong District, Bangkok 10240, THAILAND
Telephone Nos.: (662) 373-0020/21
Fax: (662) 373-0022
E-mail: cult@cultthai.coop

Thirteen non-government organizations (NGOs), two primary co-ops involved in community development programs, and one information co-operative institution in Indonesia coalesced to organize FORMASI. The mandate of FORMASI is to provide a consultative forum for NGOs and cooperatives working in the informal economic sector to develop and support community-based cooperative development in Indonesia. Activities and services under the mandate include consultancy, education and training, information and promotion concerning community-based
co-operative development, and the provision of seed capital.

FORMASI was formalized in early 1987 but it actually began in 1986 as an informal “Dialogue Forum” between DEKOPIN (the Indonesian Co-operative Council) and NGOs involved in
co-operative development in the informal sector of the economy. While it is not registered as a co-operative, it is organized according to co-operative rules. A Plenary Board, consisting of the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board, is elected by the General Participants’ Meeting held every three years. The Advisory Committee, consisting of three representatives (DEKOPIN, BAPPENAS, and the NGO community) is appointed by the Board of Directors.

FORMASI is an extraordinary member of the DEKOPIN, the council of co-operatives. As such, it can give recommendations to the government through the council, as representative of the “informal co-operatives.”

Within FORMASI's structure is the Gender Perspective Integration Team, Tim Pengintegrasian Perspektif Gender (TPPG), which coordinates and monitors the implementation of gender-related activities of FORMASI and its members.


Contact address:
Ms Dwi Astuti
Chairperson
Jalan Pertani No. 14, Kalibata, Jakarta Selatan 12760, INDONESIA
Tel. Nos.: (6221)798-0547
Fax No.: (632) 913-70-16
E-mail: formasi@indo.net.id

InWEnt – Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gemeinnützige GmbH (Capacity Building International, Germany) is an organization for international human resources development, advanced training and dialogue. Established in the year 2002 through a merger of Carl Duis-berg Gesellschaft e.V. and the German Foundation for International Development, it can draw on decades of experience that both organi-zations have gained in the field of international cooperation. Its inter-national training and dialogue programs are directed at experts, man-agers and decision-makers from business and industry, politics, public administration and civil society from all over the world.

With its training, exchange and dialogue programs for around 35,000 people every year InWEnt is the major joint initiative for worldwide training and cooperation of the Federal Government, the federal states and the private sector. At its head offices in Bonn and Cologne and its more than 30 offices throughout Germany and abroad the organization has about 900 employees on its payroll and administers a budget of roughly 130 million euros. The Federal Government is its main partner and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development the main commissioning body.

The business fields of InWEnt are:

NATCCO is a tertiary level co-operative organization with a membership base that is spread across the Philippines. NATCCO’s membership has two levels. At the primary level are the municipal-based coops of various types. As of December 2001, there are 1,269 co-ops affiliated to NATCCO. They are of various types as follows: credit, consumers, multipurpose, pre-coops or self-help groups, marketing, service, co-op rural banks, and producers. Seventy-five percent of these co-ops operate in rural areas while the rest are found in urban centers. Individual membership reached more than 900,000 in 1994 where women comprise about 55 percent.

NATCCO’s members at the secondary level are: Northern Luzon Federation Cooperatives and Development Center (NORLU CEDEC), Tagalog Co-operative Development Center (TAGCODEC), Cagayan Valley Confederation of Cooperatives (CAVALCO), Visayas Cooperative Development Center (VICTO), MASS-SPECC Cooperative Development Center, Cooperatives Education and Development Center (CEDC), and Co-op Life Mutual Benefit Services Association (CLIMBS).

Since 1988, NATCCO has been implementing a Gender and Development Program through its affiliate-coop organizations. It conducts GSTs for its members, staff and leaders. It also implements various projects that enhance women’s involvement in coops. With the increasing concerns on gender and development, NATCCO formed the Association of Gender Advocates in Development (AGAD) in December 1994. AGAD is tasked to consolidate NATCCO’s existing initiatives in gender and development across coops; coordinate and implement GAD activities; and serve as a pool of resources, experience and ideas within the NATCCO Co-op System.

NATCCO and AWCF are spearheading the beginning the beginning of a “men’s movement” in the NATCCO network, starting with the formation of an association of men who are involved in co-operatives (men co-operators). This association of men-cooperators will be a venue for sharing among the men, for them to reflect on their personal lives in relation to their families, communities, work and co-operatives. In its beginning phase, the men in this association will first be sharing and reflecting on their relationship with their families.

Contact address:
Mr. Cresente Paez
President and Chief Executive Officer
227 J.P. Rizal Street, Project 4 1109 Quezon City, PHILIPPINES
Telephone Nos.: (632) 913-70-11 to 15
Fax No.: (632) 913-70-16
E-mail: ceo@natcco.coop
Website: www.natcco.coop