CALGARY, Alberta -
But for Edwards, who represents the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions and is the first WOCCU chair elected from that region, the coming year will bring a full agenda of goals and challenges, at least one of which has been familiar to past WOCCU chairs.
"We need funding to accomplish our tasks," Edwards said in an exclusive interview with the Credit Union Journal. "It could be a struggle, but a lot depends on how we sell our mission."
According to Edwards, that mission reaches beyond worldwide credit union development to embrace the social needs of the communities and countries in which WOCCU has and will establish a foothold. It also involves supporting credit union systems already well-developed, providing them with additional resources to help expand member services and giving them a presence on the world credit union stage.
Emphasis On Social Development
Edwards' emphasis on social development also may help solicit increased funding, not only from familiar sources, but those outside the credit union movement. The broader social emphasis already helped garner an $8.9 million contribution from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WOCCU's first-ever contribution from the prestigious funding source. An emphasis this fall on raising funds directly from individuals may help the organization tap into a much larger market of charitable givers.
Such developments could enable WOCCU to reach significant new levels of influence, as well as increase the organization's effectiveness worldwide. Edwards' primary initiatives won't be new for WOCCU, but his emphases will highlight the importance of the organization's guiding principles.
"We've got a good foundation through the work that's already been done," said Edwards, a citizen of St. Kitts-Nevis. "My approach will be to put some accents on certain areas."
For Edwards, there are five "accents" he believes need strengthening during the coming year in order for WOCCU to move to new levels of influence and service.
Edwards sees a need for stronger international operating principles to help strengthen the function and oversight of fledgling credit union movements and provide greater parity among existing systems. The goal of such standards is not to override the characteristics and criteria governing those movements, but to offer a solid foundation critical to the safety and soundness standards required for effectively serving members, even among the smallest systems.
A Stronger International Presence Needed
The chairman would like to develop a stronger international presence among governments, institutions and funding organizations based on the social development aspects of its services. By helping establish financial security at the grassroots levels, WOCCU can help stabilize even the most troubled countries and shakiest economies, such as war-torn Afghanistan. Greater recognition of those efforts can generate more support from foreign governments, as well as new funding sources that would enable the organization to expand and deepen its presence.
Expansion itself is one of Edwards' goals, both in terms of its geographical reach and its social and economic influence. This includes helping bolster rapidly advancing movements in countries like Poland and Brazil and working closely with larger systems still in development such as those in China and India. This all needs to be done without sacrificing critical services to countries struggling with greater social challenges, such as those in Africa. In all cases, issues of microfinance come into play, a characteristic Edwards would like to emphasize in all the countries it serves.
As an adjunct to those efforts, the chairman wants greater and perhaps separate emphasis place on serving rural economies. In the case of China, for example, rural residents live in dire poverty and without financial options as banks cater to densely populated urban areas. Special recognition of the financial services needs rural areas have worldwide require a special emphasis as part of WOCCU's development efforts, he said.
Finally, individual countries need their own system infrastructure to support development efforts. Edwards would like to see more emphasis places on developing individual trade associations that can help with training and interact with regulators at the local level, as well as strengthening those that already exist.
"Our social mission is an evolving role, one we see as vitally important to many countries," Edwards said. "We've been involved in this for some time; now it's a matter of stepping on the gas and making these efforts more widely known.
"If we rivet ourselves more closely to addressing the human condition, we can make an even greater difference," he added.
