ILO's participation at the 3rd International Conference on Cooperatives in the Philippines
From 15-16 November 2018, ILO Enterprise Development Specialist from ILO CO Manila participated in the 3rd International Cooperative Conference on Cooperatives (ICOOP2018) organized by the Institute of Cooperatives and Bio-Enterprise Development (ICOPED) of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) at the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) in Tagaytay, the Philippines.

They discussed a range of topics from rural financial risks in the context of cooperatives and the disruptions affecting the future of cooperatives to the need for improved statistics on cooperatives in line with the guidelines adopted at the 20th International Labour Statisticians Conference (ICLS) and the role of financial cooperatives in assisting their members to better manage their financial resources beyond provision of credit. The Conference also hosted 11 parallel paper presentations on performance, productivity and innovation as well as eight parallel demo-workshops withresource speaker covering finance, new technologies and sectoral good practices.

The key messages of the ILO presentation were well reflected in the synthesis speech given by Dr Salvador P. Catelo, ICOPED Director and the ICOOP2018 Chair, and the response to the synthesis by Engr. Sylvia O. Paragua, CEO, National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO).
ICOOP2018 also featured the adoption of the guidelines on statistics of cooperatives at the 20th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in October 2018, and how the Cooperative Development Authority of the Philippines (CDA) will work with the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to operationalize the guidelines in the Philippines’ context. The presentation was delivered by Dr. Josefina B. Bitonio, Regional Director, CDA-Dagupan Extension Office, who attended the 20th ICLS as part of the Philippine delegation.
Since the international year of cooperatives in 2012, ICOOP is held every three years by ICOPED, College of Economics and Management, UPLB. The next Conference will be organized in 2021. The ILO will continue to explore collaboration with the cooperative movement in the Philippines for sustainable enterprise development and decent work for all.