By Jesse Mitchell, Marketing Manager CUFA
Our staff members have joined the masses at the World Credit Union Conference 2014 on the sunny shores of the Gold Coast. Three Australian, four Cambodian, one Timorese and one Fijian staff represented CUFA this week amongst a delegation of over 1500 from Credit Unions and credit union affiliated organisations from around the world.
It’s been a spectacular experience as we’ve had the privilege to mingle and mix with people from Peru to Papua New Guinea, Cambodia to Columbia, Norway to New York. It’s been exciting to feel like we’re a part of something much bigger than our own organisation, indeed a movement dedicated to promoting socially responsible and inclusive financial development or I guess you could say… banking, the way banking was meant to be.
One of our highlights was hearing from CUFA’s very own CEO Peter Mason who delivered a powerful and engaging presentation during the Financial Inclusion in Asia breakout session. Peter introduced the audience to success stories of CUFA’s work developing financial institutions in the Asia Pacific and touched on some of the challenges faced by the emerging credit union system in the region.
Our very own Timor-Leste Country Manager, Angelo, had a special opportunity to represent his country during the international flag ceremony as part of the opening ceremony a truly memorable moment.
It’s also been wonderful to be invited to initiatives like Emerging Leaders where they can strengthen their professional capacity and be recognised for the contribution and importance they make to the future of the mutual movement in Australia. We’ve had the unique experience of being able to meet many other emerging leaders from around the world and hear of their passion for creating social change through financial inclusion.
Our stall’s photo gallery was a big hit with people flooding in to browse the stories of people and institutions being strengthened through CUFA’s support and people were rapt to be able to meet and speak directly to CUFA’s on the ground staff, hearing straight from the horses mouth, the impact that Australian donations are having in these developing neighbouring countries.
So amongst the mingling and sharing of stories, hearing from inspiring thought leaders from around the world who are paving the way for mutual growth and the networking opportunities, for all of us who attended it’s been a truly fabulous experience and we look forward to what the future holds for the growing worldwide credit union movement.
……………………………………………………………..
For those in the Pacific, CUFA is hosting the Pacific Credit Union Technical Congress 2014 in Suva, Fiji on the 5-7 November, don’t miss out on this fantastic networking opportunity by registering today at www.occul.org
