“The credit union DNA is the same all over the world. We are all working to empower our members.”
George Ombado, Executive Director, ACCOSCA
The Foundation was delighted to host a delegation from the African Confederation of Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations (ACCOSCA) as part of their Learn and Share Experience.
ACCOSCA is the Pan-African confederation of national associations of savings and credit cooperatives societies (in most countries in East Africa credit unions are known as SACCOs). The purpose of the week-long programme is to expose the delegation to the Irish credit union movement. In advance of the visit, ACCOSCA selected a number of topics they wanted to learn more about, these included: branding, ESG, regulation and role of credit unions in the community. The five days was a mix of presentations and credit union visits which allowed for lots of discussions, and learning and sharing of best practice. The delegates are from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and USA.
Thank you to our colleagues in the Irish League of Credit Unions for presenting on the various topics, and to our external speakers who came to meet with the delegation, all of whom shared their wealth of experience and discussed all things credit union:
Thank you to the following for welcoming the delegation and hosted a visit to discuss all things credit unions and cooperatives, and share opportunites and challenges facing the sector:
In conjunction with the week, we hosted an event in Athlone, ESG – The Credit Union Experience. Thank you to everyone who attended the event, and our speakers on the day for their engaging presentations in which they shared their respective credit unions’ ESG journeys:
It was a fantastic opportunity for credit unions from Ireland and Africa to learn and discuss ways ESG can be addressed in both credit union movements.
Speaking about the event, Joanne Atuhurra from ACCOSCA said, “It was interesting to see how the SDGs and credit union principles are linked, and this is a tool we are going to use on the continent to ensure that we make faster strides forward. We don’t have to start big; any small steps that are aimed towards saving the environment are where we need to start.”