TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte, Sept. 18 (PIA)---
Home-grown cooperative highlighted its contribution to the national government
attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in its bid to grab the 1st
Galing Pook Citizenship Award.
Tagum Cooperative made it as the first
Filipino cooperative conferred with Galing Pook Citizenship Award for
“Contributing to Both Member’s Welfare and Community Development” given during
the Galing Pook Governance Fair held early this month in Pasay City.
Other Galing Pook Citizenship awardees were
the Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Governance, Inc. for “Community-Based
Monitoring of Government Programs and Services” and Balay Mindanaw Foundation,
Inc. for “Empowering Communities in Peace-building and Development”.
In its audio and video presentation, Tagum
Cooperative cited its involvement with government’s efforts to meet the MDGs
particularly on education, women empowerment, health, environment
protection and volunteerism and partnership for development.
It lined up its programs, projects and
activities (PPAs) integrating the MDG agenda on Galing Pook Mamayani
Award criteria on Positive Results and Impact, and on People’s Participation
which both carried 30 percent weight on judging.
Among the high-impact PPAs it presented
in support to MDG on education were Community and School-based Hot Lunch Plus,
Gasa Alang sa Eskwela and Support to Brigada Eskwela.
“Through these projects, we are not only
helping address hunger but we have also helped school children sustain their
attendance to classes,” Tagum Cooperative Chairperson Norma R. Pereyras
said.
Other presented programs on education
were TESDA (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) Scholarship
Program for Drivers and the Tagum Cooperative 5-year Scholarship Program, its
support to community-based and school-based Alternative Learning System
(ALS) of the Department of Education (DepEd).
The Cooperative also counted as education
initiative its “Pabilisang Savings para sa mga Drivers Advocacy (PASADA)” which
has about 490 members with about P550,000 cumulative savings since 2011.
PASADA was designed to mold the “financial freedom consciousness thru saving”
among tricycle drivers.
Meanwhile, Tagum Cooperative also showed
its milestone accomplishments in implementing its Gender and Development and
Family Enrichment Program since 1990s, through which women members have been
empowered to take part in decision-making at home and in the community.
Pereyras gave due credit to “empowered women
members”, the substantial decrease in delinquency rates from 68 percent in 1995
to 7.5 percent as of June 2015.
Among the capacitated women members of Tagum
Cooperative are the sidewalk vendors, public market vendors and those engaged
in buy and sell. They form part of the Savings and Credit with Education (SCWE)
Program designed to empower low-income women micro entrepreneurs to earn more.
Giving boost to its thrusts to economically
empower women members, the Cooperative put up the Tagum Cooperative
Women’s Livelihood Cooperative which recently received P278,000 worth of shared
service facilities from the Department of Trade and Industry Davao del Norte Provincial
Field Office.
In support of MDG on Health, the Cooperative
said that it conducted free clinic, mass blood-letting through its Himsug
Pamilya Program. It also partnered with hospitals, volunteer medical
practitioners and with civic organizations to roll out medical outreach
activities.
The Cooperative also made a dent on
environmental protection as it presented among its best practices its
five-hectare lot at the Accretion Area in Barangay Pandapan, Tagum City as its
“Tree Planting and Tree Growing Site” that it has adopted since 2011.
On the other hand, Tagum
Cooperative spelled out its local, national and global partners for
development baring out its “strong” partnership with the local governments of
Davao del Norte and Tagum City.
The Cooperative said that it has been as an
ally of the provincial and city governments on peace and order,
integration of rebel returnees, tourism. It is also part of Davao del
Norte Red Cross Council and of the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, among
other organizations.
It also claimed to have networked with
international coop organizations such as the International Cooperative
Alliance, World Council of Credit Union (WOCCU), Asian Confederation of Credit
Unions, Asian Women in Cooperative Development Forum, Global Women’s Leadership
Network, among others while also building alliances with national
and regional cooperative organizations.
Pereyras said that the Cooperative has
built the strength of its community-building initiatives on “sustained
funding for education and community development as provided in Republic Act
9520 or the Cooperative Code of the Philippines”.
Article 86, Provision No. 3 of the Code
requires cooperatives to allocate three percent from its net surplus for
programs and projects to benefit the community where the cooperative
operates. (PIA 11/ Jeanevive Duron-Abangan)
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