The Department of Co-operatives and Friendly Societies have regulatory responsibilities for Co-operatives registered under the Co-operative Societies Act and Regulations and Societies (i.e. Benevolent Friendly and Specially Authorized) registered under the Friendly Societies Act and Regulations. There are currently two hundred and twenty three (223) Co-operatives and four hundred and seventy (470) Friendly Societies with a combined membership of over 1.1 million.

Within the Co-operative portfolio, there are forty-eight (48) Credit Unions, with combined membership of over 800,000. The Credit Unions, being financial entities, possess  both human and financial recourses to administer their affair prudently and can therefore provide for continuous training of their employees, volunteers and members.

The Producers and Service Co-operatives and those Societies registered under the Friendly Societies Act do not have the financial capital (as the Credit Unions) to employ professionals to administer their affairs in a prudent manner or provide continuous training to those persons they can afford to employ, their members and volunteers.

This is a major concern to the Department due to the fact that some Benevolent Societies who access funding for community development (mainly through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund) are responsibility for the management of those funds for the employment of qualified personnel.

The resultant effect is that these entities are poorly managed, with no system of accountability and transparency. Heavy reliance is places on volunteerism, however, with all good intentions; some volunteers do not possess the knowledge, while others are unable to give quality time to the management of these Societies.

The Department recognizes the importance and continuation of these entities and their contribution to the economic and social improvement of their members and the communities within which they exist. We believe that whilst we must regulate based on our mandate, there is a responsibility to promote capacity building and institutional strengthening geared at empowering these entities to manage their own affairs in accordance with established procedures and statues.

With this in mind, training of personnel within the Co-operative and Friendly Societies Movements is a part of the Department priority objective in its yearly Operational Plans. The strategy is to assemble selected Societies in a centralized location and host a workshop. This would engage interactive discussions, exchange of ideas to influence positive changes in these Societies.

As the Department is committed to promoting and empowering Co-operatives as viable business alternatives and Friendly Societies as socially acceptable entities contributing to development of communities and their constitutions, it would be regretful if training fell by the wayside. To this end, Officers will undertake follow -up supervision of these Societies to ensure that the knowledge acquired at the workshop is translated into satisfactory outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

Last Updated: November 2007