The spirit of the global credit union movement is honoured on International Credit Union (ICUD) Day. The purpose of the day is to consider the history of the credit union movement, highlight its successes, honour labour of love, and share members stories. Since 1948, 20th October has served as International Credit Unions. The ultimate objective is to increase awareness of the fantastic work that credit unions and other financial cooperatives are doing all over the world and to provide members with greater engagement opportunities. Around the world, credit unions and financial cooperatives celebrate this day with parades, open houses, tournaments, picnics, and fundraising events.
Tanzania is moving towards a financially stable, sustainable future, and Tanzania Mentors Action (TMA) gives cooperative societies in East Africa as a whole the ability to handle their finances as easily as conversing with a friend through the SpeedyFinances web and mobile app. Identifying the Future In order to continue affecting change in Tanzanian cooperative societies, TMA connects its operations with the UN’s Worldwide Global Goals, bringing effect to them. Those Goals and targets are;
SDG 1.1REDUCE POVERTY BY AT LEAST 50% By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
SDG 10.1 By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40% of the population at a rate higher than the national average.
SDG: 8.10 Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance, and financial services for all
SDG:16. H ENCOURAGE EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.
TMA participated in the celebration of International Credit Union Day along with other credit unions. This event was organized by Savings and Credit Cooperative Union League of Tanzania SCCULT LTD, the governing body for SACCOS in Tanzania mainland. Through the SpeedyFinances system, TMA was one of the services providers who received booths to showcase and brief the public on SpeedyFinances system. The booth was visited by the guest of honour, Hon. Hussein Bashe, Minister of Agriculture. One of the key occasions in which TMA took part was the Memorandum of Understanding with Chipua Associates. Witnesses were representatives from the Tanga Register and the Dodoma Register. The Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Paul Nandrie, introduced TMA, and the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Malunde, introduced Chipua Associates. The agreement is a method of advancing the development of cooperative societies and cooperative-supporting structures in Tanzania so that may foster the sustainability and financial inclusion of cooperatives. The chief executive officer of TMA stated that TMA strongly encourages collaborations with organizations and persons that wish to build cooperative societies in Tanzania.
The Minister for Land and Human Settlement Growth, Dr. Angelina Mabula, attended the cooperatives women forum, which was one among the events that took place in the Mwanza Region. She urged the participants to work hard and think critically in order to drive cooperative development. She also praised the women in attendance, saying that now that they had made such progress, they ought to encourage other women to join the movement in order to better the financial circumstances of their own families, their communities, and the country as a whole. She made the observation that women can lead and that since the President is also a woman, we stand a better chance of attaining greatness. She offered instances of Ministries led by women and how effectively they perform. She exhorted everyone to make a small difference and lead by example. This year’s women’s forum had the topic of inclusiveness, and both men and women dressed in purple ties as a sign of inclusivity.
While ICUID was being commemorated, TMA SACCOS executives Mr. Mtilla Bakari, TMA SACCOS Accountant Officer, and Ms. Anna Nakaza, TMA SACCOS Manager, attended all of the seminars that were taking place. Other events featured cultural dances like the snake dance performed by local artists, and there was also a sports day where all of the cooperative’s members took part in games like football, the hen race, and running with sacks. The Mwanza Regional Commissioner served as the Guest of Honour on October 20, 2022, and he completed the event by presenting trophies to the SACCOS that excelled in the various activities and the sports award winners.