In 2020, we mark 60 years of ICA in the Asia-Pacific region. Our growth has been hand-in-hand with our members in the region. Over the years, ICA-AP has collaborated with members over a number of key issues - enhancing gender equality and women’s participation, youth participation, training and knowledge building, legal and policy advocacy, and business and trade enhancement. This month, we highlight the work done by ICA-AP and our members in developing human resources and highlighting key activities during the first two decades (1960-80).

 ICA Asia-Pacific was first set up as the ICA Regional Office & Education Centre (ICA ROEC) in New Delhi in1960.  India’s first Prime Minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, in his inaugural address at the Regional Seminar on ‘Co-operative Leadership in South-East Asia’ held at New Delhi said, “The whole future of India really depends on the success of this approach of ours to these vast numbers, hundreds of millions of people. With that naturally comes processes of training etc. We cannot just ask them to cooperate. Therefore, we have to train them in a very big way - educate them and give them some special training. It is a terrific job.” Since then the ICA-AP regional office has been active in capacity building and human resource development programmes to strengthen cooperatives across the region. Over the years, ICA-AP has developed educational programmes for leaders of cooperatives, senior trainers, and educators engaged in member education programmes. It has done this through technical meetings; expert consultations; research, studies and training programmes for trainers, managers and government officials; publications of books and periodicals; running a library and providing documentation services; and through in-house development programmes. ICA-AP has drawn on resource people and experts from international organisations and development partners such as the ILO and FAO, and collaborated with many members in the region to facilitate human resources development programmes. The Library which the ICA-AP used to run was recognized as a research centre by the universities and research institutions in India and a number of scholars made use of it for their doctoral programmes and research papers. The book, 50 Years of International Co-operative Alliance in Asia-Pacific [1960-2010]:  Serving Co-operatives, lists some of the major publication released over the years. The book, 50 Years of International Co-operative Alliance in Asia-Pacific [1960-2010] Serving Co-operatives, lists some of the major publication released over the years. 

 The Human Resource Development activities aimed to develop appropriate policies and programmes to protect and promote the interests of members. These included:

• The Field Education Development Programme (FED) using the Cooperative Education Material Advisory Service approach. A full-scale library of teaching and training material, including training packages was developed for the use of member organisations and national cooperative training institutions;
   
• ILO/ MATCOM (Methods and Techniques of Cooperative Management) training packages on various subjects;
   
• ICA Fellowship Programme (1963) for persons with a good track record of cooperative work, to follow a particular course of study in cooperative activity, enabling them to contribute to the follow-up of cooperative activities initiated in the region;
   
• Teachers’ Exchange Programme in 1968 for national cooperative training institutions in the region;
   
• ICA/ SCC (Swedish Cooperative Centre) Seminars on cooperative leadership and management;
   
• Specialised ICA/ILO training courses on Training Methodology and Techniques for Cooperative Staff in Asia. The first part of the programme was conducted in India in collaboration with the National Cooperatives Union of India’s (NCUI) Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM), and the second part was at the ILO Turin Centre in Italy;
   
• Developing horizontal programmes of cooperatives with the assistance of the UNDP-TCDC (Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries), under which needs and capacities of the movement were identified and documented;
   
• Carrying out the work of development and exchange of experiences under the Cooperative Development Decade (1971-1980). The Government of India had offered ICA 500 scholarships for co-operators from the region to be trained in India;
   
• Establishing high-level and active contacts with governments through Cooperative Ministers’ Conferences, Top-level leaders’ meetings, regional consultations, and cooperative fora;
   
• ICA/Japan Agricultural Co-operative Management Programme initiated with the funding support made available by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries [MAFF], Government of Japan and in collaboration with the JA-Zenchu supported Institute for the Development of Agricultural Cooperation in Asia (IDACA). Started in 1986, the training program continues to this day and has helped strengthen management capacities of agriculture cooperatives, develop capacity of rural women to run cooperatives and aided in value chain development and agriculture marketing. 
   
• In 2016, the ICA and the European Union signed a Framework Partnership Agreement to implement a multi-year and multi-country development programme aimed at benefitting and advancing cooperatives worldwide. The Partnership, "Cooperatives in Development: People Centred Businesses in Action," aims to among other things, strengthen the technical, institutional and political capacity of the member federations.
   
• ICA-AP continues to collaborate with all members in the region and with international organisations to provide technical assistance programmers; provide platforms and opportunities for cooperatives to engage; offer exchanges of co-operators, teachers, leaders and experts within and outside the region; and valuabel cooperative literature on various sectors, technical topics, and management and training techniques.
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The ICA-AP Human Resources Development (HRD) Committee was formed in the late 1980s to promote the development of human resources in a focused manner. The mandate of the Committee is to promote the systematic dissemination of information on the significance of HRD for cooperatives and cooperative organizations and to promote HRD activities. The support of the Swedish Cooperative Center in the early years ensured there were dedicated personnel to pursue committee run projects, disseminate information, represent the region in the global committee, and engage with educational institutions. In 2012, the Constitution of the Committee was revised to be in line with the other Committees in the region.

The charts below highlights some of the activities from ICA-AP’s first two decades (1960-80). 

This role takes on particular significance in the current global scenario, where COVID-19 has affected most countries, disrupted work and livelihoods, uprooted lives, and created social and economic upheavals which will have lasting impacts. Recognising the global strength and network of the cooperative movement and ICA, now is the time to fall back on the strength of the cooperative principles of cooperation and collaboration, to increase our resilience in these tough times. Indeed, as we have in the past, together, we shall overcome!