BRS makes a substantial difference

Unknow world

'I wanted to do something socially relevant after my career, preferably around the theme of poverty. I was thinking more of the  needs in my own  country.  But after the first contacts with BRS, I realised that microfinance in the South fascinated  me. And through  my last job at KBC - as secretary of the Board of Directors of KBC Group - I had a lot of useful experience in the area of governance. This is how I ended up in the BRS working group on cooperative governance.

Now governance is totally my thing, but I knew little about cooperatives. So I first took a post-graduate cooperative entrepreneurship course and then a Microfact course , to better understand the numbers and reporting of MFls.

Theory versus practice

Yet it was only later, while visiting some clients of partner organizations in Uganda, that it became clear to me what it was really about. I especially reme mbe rmy encounter with a group of women working in the fields. As borrowers, they had joined together in a cooperative, which allowed them to build a barn together. That way they could store their harvest until they got a better price for it. Everything I had l earned until then came together like a jigsaw here.

I finally fully understood the cooperative idea of "together we are stronger". And what the power of microfinance is.

Unity is essential

My conclusi on : the workshop on cooperative governance very defi nit ely works. But only if you are working with one organization or with several cooperatives under a strong
umbrella. If that cohesion is lacking, then members are really not going to put their governance problems on the table in the group and such a workshop misses its purpose.
Sufficient unity and trust are essential for an open discussion and thus for the success of a cooperative governance workshop.

The part icipant s in Guinea were very happy and I myself was happy. I really believe in it. What BRS does makes a substantial difference!'

My seco nd assignment took me to Guinea, where I conducted a workshop on cooperative governance with KBC's Pieter Wildermeersch and BRS's Bart Speelman. Participants were representatives of twenty-five local cooperatives, united in the um brella organization FASeF-G. And directors and management of the umbrella organization were also present. The course delved into a number of issues surrounding cooperative management. Which at the same time allowed us to get to know the participating cooperatives and their umbrella association bett er. An ideal stepping st one for the exploration of a possible structural cooperation with BRS.

A successful approach

Because this was also part of our assignment : to explore whet her this workshop on cooperative governance could be used as a kind of teaser. As a way to explore new possibilities for cooperation with the cooperatives present?

This approach proved successful in Guinea. The participants communicated very openly and talked freely. The fact that they were very close to each other and acted as one organization cert ainly played a major role in this. More than once it was emphasized: "We are one". And it was true. FASeF-G is a strong umbrella, with many strong figures.  President Koulaka Hadja Camara, for example, made a great impression. A powerful woman who is very close to the members. People from the participating cooperatives also dared to speak their minds. For example, when it came to possible conflicts of interest between the umbrella organization and the individual cooperatives, the members spoke freely. That says a lot about the umbrella organization.