The cooperative movement in the Philippines looks back to a history of more than 120 years. There are more than 19,000 cooperatives in the country with more than 7,5 million members. The majority of them is multipurpose (i.e., operating business lines in multiple sectors) mostly with a strong focus on credit operations. In many cases, cooperatives support their communities with different services aside of their regular business. They are, therefore, an important factor for local inclusive development.
As part of the regional project Economic Inclusion through Sustainable Cooperative Systems funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, DGRV is working together with three different partners in the Philippines.
The project is funded by the BMZ – Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and is currently running until the end of 2023.
Mr Marc-André Zach
Sayarath Vongsack
Mr Alberto Elorde II
CDA is the main government organisation responsible for the regulation and promotion of cooperatives in the Philippines. DGRV supports CDA through structured technical assistance such as trainings, technical workshops, consultancy, and experts’ exchanges. We work together with our partner to improve the regulatory framework for cooperatives and the regulatory capacities of their staff.
NATCCO is the largest cooperative federation in the Philippines with a history dating back to 1915. It has more than 800 member cooperatives with more than 5 million individual members. DGRV supports NATCCO with developing a stabilisations fund mechanism for its members. The fund aims to protect the individual members from loss of assets by ensuring the solvency of the cooperatives. The activities are supported technically by the German Cooperative Banking Federation (BVR) which operates the German institutional protection scheme for cooperative banks.
We also support the training and consultancy department of NATCCO by funding a consultancy program for medium sized cooperatives and by developing innovative education products. The cooperative development program aims to strengthen the organisations capacities thus decreasing credit risk and increasing profitability. In 2023, NATCCO launched an online training on good governance for their members.
The Financial Institutions Supervision Department is responsible for supervision and auditing the Savings and Credit Unions in Laos.
Founded in 2017, AgriCOOPh is a young federation. In contrast to most other cooperative federations, it does not focus on financial services, but it aims to become a full value chain services provider for its members. The membership of the federation encompasses more than 50 cooperatives with more than 650,000 individuals – mostly people from farming households. Services include among others, business advisory, training on internal organisation and governance, advocacy for farmers, as well as joint marketing of agricultural products.
DGRV provides AgriCOOPh with financial and technical support. The topics of the collaboration include, internal control and audit, value chain analysis, business development, and governance. The measures aim both at improving the capacities of the federation and their members. Helping AgriCOOPh to become a strong and member-oriented organisation will strengthen the positonof smallholder farmers in the Philippine.
AFA is a regional organisation which advocates for the interests of smallholder farmers in the Asia Pacific region. DGRV collaborates with them on selected topics to raise awareness of the importance of cooperative organisations and to promote cross-national knowledge exchange (south-south cooperation). In the past, for example, DGRV has supported online trainings for AFA members on good governance.
DGRV – Deutscher Genossenschafts- und Raiffeisenverband e. V. – Philippines
German Cooperative and Raiffeisen Confederation – Philippines
Philippine Cooperative Center, Unit 203,
#90 Balete Drive Ext. Kristong Hari,
Quezon City, Philippines 6000
Asia DGRV has been operating in Vietnam since the end of 1990s by providing support at all levels. Amongst others, DGRV has consulted the Vietnamese partners on developing and revising the cooperative law and various by-laws related to the model. In the phase from 2021-2023, Vietnam, which is part of DGRVs regional WINGS project- Economic Inclusion […]
More
Asia With its country-wide programme in Cambodia, DRGV aims at promoting a functioning, multi-level cooperative system that enables cooperatives, and very specifically their farmer members to improve their individual economic situation. By promoting cooperative self-help, the project contributes to improving economic and social structures, strengthening civil society and reducing poverty. In Cambodia, DGRV is following a […]
More
Asia With its country-wide programme in Lao PDR, DRGV aims at contributing to the improvement of the economic situation of farmers and micro-, small- and medium enterprises by strengthening self-help groups and cooperatives. The DGRV Team in Laos works on all three levels. On the Macro level the team advices the local partners, the Ministry of […]
More
