Cooperative Move Key To Financial Growth For Rural Women

Fostering the cooperative movement among rural women in villages is key to improving their financial liveli­hood.

During the Soqosoqo Vakamarama iTaukei Cakaudrove (SVTC) annual general meet­ing held on Thursday in Savusavu, a staff from the Ministry of Trade, Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) raised awareness on cooperative movement.

SVTC project coordinator Timaima Ciri la­belled the AGM platform as an ideal opportu­nity for rural women to grasp and learn the way cooperatives work for financial growth of a village and member.

When approached on this cooperative con­cept, Ms Ciri said working in unison for a common goal was already embedded in the iTaukei culture.

It is known as ‘Solesolevakai’ or working to­gether to lighten the load.

She believed poverty and making ends meet financially was not just an individual crisis, but a village’s fight to overcome their finan­cial standing.

There are 139 villages in the 16 districts un­der Cakaudrove Province. This initiation is the start of many years of hard work to get out of the poverty cycle.

Young women are potential mobilisers the SVTC aims to encourage to promote this co­operative idea to.

“Village settings demand unity to exist for the financial wellbeing of its members,” Ms Ciri said.

The management of finances and the aspect of financial literacy requires time and pa­tience for it to sink or be grasped by women.

Annual levy

The annual levy collection is progressing with positive strides made this year from previous year.

Ms Ciri said they had 1300 financial mem­bers (STVC members from different villages) and each member contributed a dollar to the fund.

To qualify to become a member, the women has to be 16 and above and lives fulltime in the village.

The benefits for financial members are pos­sible selections to overseas and local trips to advocate on certain topics.

The annual levy is used to cater for the ad­ministration operations of their office in Sa­vusavu.

Ms Ciri revealed membership of women was increasing every year and this was en­couraging

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