UN Recognizes Credit Union Role in Rural Employment

Credit unions took stage at a recent United Nations (UN) gathering of international experts on cooperatives and employment in Shanghai, China.

The Division for Social Policy and Development of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs organized the "expert group meeting" to discuss recommendations for the UN General Assembly on the role of cooperatives in promoting job creation and social inclusion as means to reducing poverty. The meeting served as a follow-up forum to the Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995, where commitments were made to reduce poverty through job creation and social inclusion.

John Ikeda, World Council business development manager, gave voice to credit unions at the meeting and advocated on their behalf for mention in the report. The group's final recommendations addressed governments, national cooperative movements, UN agencies, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), international institutions, donor agencies and cooperatives themselves. The report promoted the role credit unions—one of the largest providers of microfinance services in the world—through a number of proposals to:

• create credit union specific legislation and supervision;
• promote the technical assistance credit unions provide;
• suggest the ICA help member cooperatives forge partnerships with credit unions to expand the outreach of microfinance;
• support microfinance and other employment- creating financial services through credit unions in developing countries.

The UN has increasingly recognized cooperatives as the answer to economic development in areas where both public and private sectors have failed or have not entered. With global unemployment rates on the rise, cooperatives are looked to as prime facilitators in job creation because of their commitment to social justice.

The UN also recognized the important role of credit unions in building inclusive financial systems in their 2005 Blue Book Report, which was a set of guidelines and suggestions for governments following the "Year of Microcredit".

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.