Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM), Pune (India) organised the 3rd Research Coordination Committee meeting of the Centre for International Cooperation and Training in Agricultural Banking (CICTAB) on 21st November 2021. Mr. Mohit Dave represented the ICA Asia and Pacific Office at the meeting.
Dr. D. Ravi, Consultant and Member Convener (CICTAB) opened the meeting and welcomed all participants. He shared a brief history of the Centre and its activities. CICTAB, Pune is an experience-sharing platform set up and promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of India in 1983. It has a membership of 35 member institutions in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Govt. of India is the President, General Council of CICTAB. The Additional Secretary, Ministry of Cooperation, Govt. of India is the Chairman, Managing Committee of CICTAB. The Centre has recently constituted a Research Coordination Committee to undertake research activities and documentation of good practices.
Dr. Hema Yadav, Director, CICTAB said that the knowledge exchange between member institutions would assist in understanding and infusing recent developments in the cooperative sector, which can lead to a quantum jump in efficiency and productivity of cooperatives and consequently in the value and supply chain across sectors.
Mr. Mohit Dave shared various sources of research and knowledge channels available at the ICA-AP. He noted that knowledge exchange between cooperatives is useful in mitigating the challenges that constrain the cooperative movement from achieving its full potential. This knowledge is available at the regional level and is cross-sectoral and extensive in nature. Such cross-pollination of good practices among cooperatives is also expected to foster much needed and more relevant cooperation among cooperatives, at various levels.
During the meeting, research interests and good practices by member institutions were also discussed. These included Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Union, National Cooperative Council of Sri Lanka, National Cooperative Bank Limited (Nepal), National Institute of Bank Management (India), Nepal Agriculture Cooperative Central Federation, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India and Agricultural Development Bank Limited (Nepal). Dr. H. K. Mishra (IRMA) recommended practices devised and deployed across sectors and geographies in India.
At the closing session, Dr. Yadav said that all the stakeholders have been requested to submit their proposals for compilation and due consideration. Based on their inputs, CICTAB will prepare a framework of good practices that the cooperatives can adopt as per their requirement and suitability. She thanked all the participants for attending the meeting.
