More cooperatives will soon benefit through the support of Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (Aboitiz Foundation), the social development arm of the Aboitiz Group, as it obtains a technical training accreditation from the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA).

The license, which recognizes the foundation as one of the regulator’s accredited technical training providers, is in compliance with Memorandum Circular No. 2011-14 known as the Standard Training Curricula for Cooperatives, specified in R.A. 9520 or the Philippine Cooperative Code.

For more than 20 years, the Aboitiz Foundation has been assisting small enterprising organizations nationwide earn additional income by providing access to income-generating livelihood, job opportunities, and capability-building through enterprise development or Aboitiz Business Assistance and Guidance (ABAG) program, which is one of its program components.  Other interventions are directed toward education and environment and sustainability.

“As an accredited training provider, our partner-organizations no longer have to get trainings from other accredited providers that impose high fees because the foundation offers them for free,”  said Aboitiz Foundation Executive Vice President and Managing Trustee Sonny I. Carpio.

This, he noted, is the foundation’s way of empowering and helping its beneficiaries to be more efficient and effective in their respective roles.

Under ABAG (a Cebuano word that means ‘help’), the foundation implements livelihood skills training on basic business knowledge and capability-building to cooperative members to complement its microfinance program.

These free trainings include Basic Cooperative Course, Cooperative Management and Governance, Financial Management, Conflict Management, Parliamentary Procedure, Leadership and Values Re-orientation, Strategic Planning, Audit Management, Records Management, Entrepreneurial and Business Management, Basic Accounting for Non-Accountants, Internal Control, Rules Formulation, Cooperative Standards, and Policy Making.

The Standard Training Curricula requires CDA-accredited training providers to conduct these trainings annually in preparation for renewal and as basis for acquiring certificate of good standing.

“The livelihood skills that we implement have provided job opportunities to the members of our partner-organizations, which helped augment their income.  We will continue to implement this as we want to inspire and help people help themselves,” Mr. Carpio stressed.

Meanwhile, Aboitiz Foundation’s microfinance program, another component of its enterprise development initiative, requires lenders no collateral and has a record of 96% average collection efficiency for the past 20 years. “Trust, integrity, and commitment are our core values that we want to instil to our partner organizations,” he noted.