In a regional webinar recently held on the impact of Covid 19 on women cooperators, the ICA-AP Committee on women discussed the diverse and severe ramifications of the corona pandemic on cooperative business and women cooperators at the grass-roots level. 13 women cooperators drawn from several countries from the Asia-Pacific region took part in the virtual seminar.
Presiding over the webinar, Dr. Nandini Azad, Chairperson of the Committee said the nationwide lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic outbreak was a difficult time for women’s savings and credit cooperatives in India. Sharing some of her concrete experiences, she said the survival of savings and credit cooperative businesses was under serious threat in the beginning of March month, as payments were impossible, recovery rates were poor and there was a huge loss of resources.
However, poor women cooperators in Indian Cooperative Network for Women [ICNW] held their feet on the ground and strong cooperation between them helped to survive the pandemic.
According to the press release, Ms. Chitose Arai, ICA-AP Vice-President, Vice-Chairperson of the Committee delivered the opening address and shared the impact of COVID-19 on consumer cooperatives in Japan. She said that the webinar was an opportunity to meet committee members and provide them with information that they might need and find useful to cope with the pandemic.
Several cooperative leaders including the representative from IFFCO, India also made their presentations sharing a number of major challenges faced by women cooperators during COVID-19. Some of the challenges are an increase in domestic violence cases; effect on mental health; limited involvement of women in cooperatives response, planning and decision making during the pandemic; and layoffs.
The participants also shared their practical strategies adopted by their cooperatives and explained the dynamic role played by women cooperators through their local knowledge, meticulous, immediate strategies and actions at all levels.
The webinar ended with the announcement of forthcoming activities. The committee in partnership with ICNW and WWF is organising the first ever digital training for financial inclusion of poor women cooperators in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) from September 16th to 18th 2020.
