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Trinidad and Tobago Sister Society- June 16, 2018

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Credit Union Women discuss Economic Development 

On Oct. 18, 2018, credit union members around the world will celebrate International Credit Union Day®, an annual event to commemorate the credit union movement’s impact and achievements. This year marks the 70th anniversary, a platinum celebration and the theme for this year’s celebration is “Find your Platinum Lining”.

The ultimate goal is to raise awareness about the tremendous work that credit unions and other financial cooperatives are doing around the world and give members the opportunity to get more engaged.

As a lead up to this year’s celebrations, the Trinidad and Tobago Sister Society (TTSS) of the Global Women’s Leadership Network (GWLN), hosted its inaugural Women’s Forum on Saturday June 16, 2018. This event was held in partnership with the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU) as part of the CCCU 2018 convention, held at The HYATT Regency Hotel. In keeping with the theme for International Credit Union month, this Forum brought together over seventy (70) persons from twenty-five (25) credit unions including regional Co-operative Societies, at Paradise Villa, Paramin to participate in the forum titled “The Role of Women in Economic Development”.

The objective of the forum was to provide an opportunity for women in all stages of their professional credit union journey to network; gain new insights on credit union trends; develop new skills and participate in the global credit union movement. 

Guest speakers Tammy O’Hara, VP Sales & Member Relations, CUES; and Angelique V. Nixon, PhD, UWI, built on this platform. They encouraged participants to embrace “Women Empowerment”. The overarching theme among the presenters was the importance of empowerment, gender equality and equity – in both professional and personal capacities. Minister of Trade and Industry, Senator the Honourable Paula Gopee-Scoon was also a guest at the function and she addressed the group on the issue of women and their impact on sustainability and national development. 

Sister Societies serve as autonomous chapters of the GWLN. They further the Network’s global mission by making a local impact in their credit union communities. The purpose of the groups are to get local credit union women together, exchange ideas, impact local credit unions, and share information with other network members.

Trinidad and Tobago Sister Society’s Co-Founders Gail Rajkumar and Jamila Draper strongly believe that credit union women can play a major role in helping women and girls. They can be agents of change- helping them to develop themselves, achieve their ambitions and lift themselves out of poverty, or unhealthy situations. There is a collective responsibility to Credit Union members and communities to move the needle of the sustainable development goals using the co-operative principles of co-operation among co-operatives, by caring for community and continuous education.

We hope that the participants were able to gain and apply knowledge from this forum when they returned to their credit unions. For further information, please email TTCUSisterSociety@outlook.com or call 1(868)759-3292.


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