THE Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, in collaboration with the Guyana Cooperative Credit Union (GCCU), hosted a luncheon seminar last Thursday, at Hotel Tower, on Main Street, Georgetown. Themed ‘Governance Principles for Cooperatives’, it was a joint initiative between the Cooperatives Division of his ministry and the GCCU, said Minister of Labour, Mr. Manzoor Nadir.
He explained that the goal was to take better governance and management to credit unions, which are financial cooperatives, of which there are 45 registered in Guyana with some 15,000 members and assets worth about $2 billion.
Presenters at the forum included President of GCCU, Ms. Denise Benjamin; Chief Cooperatives Development Officer, Mr. Abdul Jabar and Manager of GCCU, Ms. Dana Nestor.
It was the second in a three-part series which the cooperatives and the GCCU are involved to educate managers and executives of credit unions.
The first was a breakfast session at Regency Suites hotel in March and another will be held on July 6.
Nestor said credit unions exist to serve their members who have a collective duty unlike profit making entities.
She said local credit unions should comply with the international principles and expressed the hope that persons would leave the workshop with an expanded view of the purposes of the seminar.
Nestor said the purpose of the seminar, was to address the problems of credit unions at three different levels and Jabar spoke about the rules, laws and processes with which they are expected to comply for the benefit of all.