World Council Holds International Partnerships Briefing
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World Council's International Partnerships briefing meeting participants pose for photo.
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Washington, DC—World Council of Credit Unions
held an International Partnerships meeting
Friday, October 20, in Arlington, Virginia.
Twenty-six credit union leaders from United
States leagues and World Council shared the
progress of their individual partnerships and
used the meeting as a forum for best
practices.
Victor Corro, International Partnership Manager
explained, "Sharing the goals, achievements and
challenges of World Council's twenty-two
International
Partnerships help us to build stronger
partnerships and in turn stronger credit union
systems. As they develop, we are seeing
partnerships conducting more sophisticated
exchanges, focusing on issues such as
technology, shared branching, corporate
structures and better serving immigrant
populations." During the briefing,
participants
discussed how to convey partnership benefits to
their constituents, how to make partnerships
more inclusive, what works in the program and
what can be improved.
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Representatives from the Ohio Credit Union League and World Council of Credit Unions meet with Jessica Frend, legislative correspondent and Susan Williams, foreign policy legislative assistant from Senator Mike DeWine's office.
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Representatives from Connecticut, Washington,
DC, Missouri, Texas, California, Ohio, New York,
Minnesota, Iowa, Alabama, and North Carolina
reported on successes in 2006 and gave an
overview of planned activities for 2007. The
case study for this year's briefing was the Ohio
Credit Union League, Corporate One Federal
Credit Union, WOCCU-Bolivia and the Bolivian
Credit Union System and World Council. This
international partnership focused on technology
and connecting credit unions in Bolivia with a
shared branching system. In the beginning the
partnership helped to connect a small pilot
group of credit unions, implement a national
remittances network by fax and eventually
developed a shared branching system that boasts
60 points of service throughout the country
with a web based platform. This was all
possible through the guidance and expertise of
the International Partnership relationship.
Lee Butke, CEO of Corporate One Federal Credit
Union explained, "I believe that it's our
mission to serve credit unions and help them
serve their members. It is part of everyone's
job description—helping people. Being able to
make a difference in the lives of our
partner is important."
The partnership briefing was scheduled in
conjunction with "hike the hill" visits to
congressional representative offices on
International Credit Union Day. One staffer,
Jessica Frend, legislative correspondent for
Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), who met with
credit union representatives explained, "We
learned a lot about the role of credit unions
and their work inside and outside of the United
States."
World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.
World Council has implemented more than 290 technical assistance programs in 71 countries. Worldwide, 51,000 credit unions in 100 countries serve 196 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.
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