Philippines Disaster Relief Funds Announced

Madison, WI- World Council of Credit Unions, Inc. (WOCCU) has activated its international disaster relief fund for benefit of the savings and credit cooperatives devastated by last Friday's landslides in the Philippines.

WOCCU is reviewing damage reports from the area. It is too early to estimate the credit union damage, but many members have been affected. Some 1,800 people are missing and presumed dead under the soupy mud. The Philippine Geosciences Bureau estimates that the mud is four meters (13 feet) deep and covers an area of approximately three square kilometers (1.16 square miles).

WOCCU Senior Manager Curtis Slover has coordinated a preliminary needs analysis with VICTO, the Visayas Cooperative Training Organization for savings and credit cooperatives. Two disaster relief priorities were identified:

• Educational accounts for 20 to 25 children/siblings who lost their parents, enabling them to continue their schooling
• Capitalizing 100 revolving "Livelihood" loans, enabling credit union members to start or continue businesses so they can rebuild their lives and the economy

WOCCU has had ongoing activities with the Philippine credit union movement, having carried out technical assistance projects there since 1988. Current projects include a rural women's savings and credit education program and a credit union strengthening technical assistance program. The Washington Credit Union League and Affiliates leads a WOCCU International Partnership Program with the Philippines credit union movement. There are 378 credit unions and more than 700,000 credit union members in the country.

To support the international credit union disaster relief fund and rebuilding of Philippine credit unions, payments may be sent to:

Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions, Inc. 5710 Mineral Point Road P.O. Box 2982 Madison, WI 53701-2982

El Consejo Mundial de Cooperativas de Ahorro y Crédito es la asociación gremial y agencia de desarrollo para el sistema internacional de cooperativas de ahorro y crédito. El Consejo Mundial promueve el crecimiento sustentable de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito y otras cooperativas financieras en todo el mundo a fin de facultar a las personas para que mejoren su calidad de vida a través del acceso a servicios financieros asequibles y de alta calidad. El Consejo Mundial realiza esfuerzos de defensa activa en representación del sistema global de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito ante organizaciones internacionales y trabaja con gobiernos nacionales para mejorar la legislación y la regulación. Sus programas de asistencia técnica introducen nuevas herramientas y tecnologías para fortalecer el desempeño financiero de las cooperativas de ahorro y crédito y profundizar su alcance comunitario.

El Consejo Mundial ha implementado 290 programas de asistencia técnica en 71 países. A nivel mundial, 51,000 cooperativas de ahorro y crédito en 100 países atienden a 196 millones de personas. Obtenga más información sobre el impacto global del Consejo Mundial en www.woccu.org.