The ICA regional workshop for leaders on ‘Social Contribution of Consumer Cooperatives in Asia-Pacific’ was held in Goesan County, Korea from April 8 to 12. The workshop was organized under the aegis of the ICA-AP Consumer Committee and for the first time hosted by iCOOP Korea. 58 cooperators and guests from India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines and Vietnam attended the three-day workshop. The objectives of the workshop were to learn about iCOOP Korea, especially their social contribution policy through the Goesan Natural Dream Park and to establish an international network of Consumer Cooperative leaders.
Ms. Inja Park, Chairperson, iCOOP Korea in her welcome address touched on the cooperative movements’ ability to raise the quality of human life and to contribute to better communities and hoped this would continue in the future. She said the workshop would be a place where Asian co-operators would come together and discuss the cooperative movements. This was followed by lectures by Mr. Daehoon Kim (Executive Manager, iCOOP Development Center) who provided an overview of iCOOP Korea, and by Ms. Gwibok Oh (Director, iCOOP Korea) on the activities of iCOOP Korea.
Lecture by iCOOP
On the second day, delegates visited the factories and the Product Inspection Center in Goesan Natural Dream Park. The "Natural Dream Parks" established by iCOOP Korea are Korea's first eco-friendly organic food clusters. The grouping of food manufacturing facilities, Product Inspection Center, and logistics center in one geographic location, facilitates procurement and processing of raw materials and in the process prevents adulteration. Based on the concept of balancing people, industry and nature, "Natural dream parks" use local agricultural produce to provide reliable products to members, forges cooperation with local governments, create jobs and gradually revitalizes local communities. Goesan Natural Dream Park is the second cluster by iCOOP Korea with the first one in Gurye county in Jeollanam Province. The delegates also learned about the Animal Hospital Co-op and Funeral Co-op through presentations given by Mr. Kyungseob Jung (CEO, Home of Animals) and Mr. Kyonghwan Kim (Executive Director, Hankyoreh Dure Co-op) respectively.
Participants at the factory.
On the third day, group discussion sessions were held on the following topics, (1) Identify the roles and goals of the workshop; (2) Characteristics and implications of iCOOP Korea's social contribution; and (3) What kind of contributions can be made to communities by cooperatives in each country: an exploration of new and practical ideas. Five groups shared their ideas and solutions. Each participating organization presented their learnings from the workshop as well as their action plan. These presentations were followed by a debriefing conducted by Mr. Sukho Kang (CEO, Goesan Natural dream Park). The participants were positive about the program and were confident that sharing their experience with other cooperators in their countries would be extremely beneficial.
Based on their experience at the Goesan Natural Dream Park, the delegates expressed their desire to see it continue annually. Accordingly, ICA-AP Consumer Committee and iCOOP Korea agreed to have a similar workshop next year.
