PAHO/WHO FCU Hosts African Credit Union Leaders and Regulators

This past November, PAHO/WHO Federal Credit Union once again hosted credit union leaders and regulators from several African countries as part of an exchange program sponsored by the African Confederation of Co-operative Savings and Credit Association (ACCOSCA), which is the national association for African credit unions.

Visitors from Kenya, Botswana and South Africa spent the day with PAHO/WHO FCU CEO Miguel Boluda Jr., CFO Derek Fuzzell, as well as other employees to talk about the U.S. credit union system. The discussion focused on U.S. credit union regulations, compliance, internal and outside auditing, board governance, technology, risk management and the overall credit union operations. And while the information was eye opening for the visitors, the exchange of ideas and best practices provided PAHO/WHO FCU staff a deeper insight into the credit union movement in Africa.

The exchange program is now in its sixth year. Led by ACCOSCA Executive Director George Ombado and Lois Kitsch, U.S. Credit Union Consultant, the program pairs the group with U.S. Credit Union Leagues and Associations as well as individual credit unions. There were many takeaways for the group, including how credit unions are serving the most marginalized populations in the United States and abroad, and the tools used to eradicate the problems of housing, hunger, access to credit, education, the environment, employment etc.  Ombado remarked that the visits were important to the work that African credit unions are doing for their members and the lessons learned will be shared with other credit union leaders, helping strengthen the cooperative movement across Africa.

In addition to participating in the exchange program, PAHO/WHO FCU Vice President of Business Development Michael Ray recently joined 37 other Americans on a trip to the continent as part of the association's Climb Africa fundraising initiative to build Accosca Academy, a training and research center for the credit union movement throughout Africa.

Americans were also either involved in the actual climb of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania or were assigned to a special work project at the Salima School for the Blind in Malawi. Volunteers painted school walls and donated clothing, shoes, and a vast array of school items. They also spent time getting to know the kids by reading and singing songs. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on the last day of the trip, with visits from credit union leaders across Africa. Government leaders were in attendance and were able to see the potential that the Academy will provide in helping to strengthen and grow the African credit union movement while improving the financial lives of people throughout the continent.

Climb Africa has raised just over $800,000.00 dollars of its $1.2 million goal for the state-of-the-art training academy. The ACCOSCA Academy now provides the highest quality of training programs and certifications to over 34 African countries, member credit unions, and their staff. 

The creation of the Academy was made possible partly through donations from several credit union organizations such as CUNA Mutual, PSCU, AACUC and several credit unions throughout the United States.