WOCCU Reps Assess Solomon Is.

SOLOMON ISLANDS - Brian Branch, the chief operating officer for the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU) in Madison, Wis., visited these islands to assess damage caused by a recent tsunami and to identify how WOCCU and the Credit Union Federation of Australia (CUFA) might help credit unions rebuild. Both WOCCU and CUFA have appealed for funds to help in the rebuilding.

According to WOCCU, CUFA had earlier donated radios to MicroFinance Rural Resources Centers (MRRCs), where people in small rural communities pool their funds in savings clubs, provide basic health services and make small artisan handicrafts to generate income, that were then used to help people in the aftermath of the tsunami. "The radios facilitated communication between rural communities and the rest of the country via the credit union network," WOCCU said.

Credit unions operated their radios 24 hours per day to help villagers across the islands connect with their families and find out where they could go for aid, shelter and assistance.

While in the Solomon Islands, Branch and Peter Mason, executive director of CUFA, met with government officials to advance strategies that would equip credit unions to serve struggling rural communities.

Credit unions began organizing in the Solomon Islands in the 1980s. The Solomon Island Credit Union League (SICUL) was established in 1987. Today, 159 credit unions and their 200 associated MRRC savings clubs serve more than 62,000 in the Solomon Islands.