As part of the International Day of Cooperatives, the National Council of Cooperatives (CNC), together with its partners, celebrated this day at Petite Rivière de l'Artibonite on the theme chosen this year by the United Nations "Cooperatives ensure no-one is left behind."

Manel Castel, President of the National Association of Haitian Caisses Populaires (ANACAPH), emphasized that "[...] the theme chosen is of capital importance for Haiti. Indeed, in order to achieve this much-desired inclusion, there must be a change in behavior on the part of the leaders of the Haitian cooperatives, in particular the credit unions. It is also necessary to establish a climate of trust by acting as actors and not as competitors."

In his speech, Frantz Prinvil, the Director General of the CNC stressed the need to strengthen the cooperative movement in Haiti where more than half of the population lives in poverty. He called on Haitian cooperatives to move out of the closed circle of savings and credit cooperatives to expand their sphere of activity to other fields of activity that are expanding in the country.

IH/ iciHaiti