The CDA, with its aim to help in cooperative development continuously, contemplates of ways to help the cooperatives. One of its ways is to have partnership and coordinative efforts with successful cooperatives through the KOOP KAPATID (Big Brother Small Brother) Program and application of the Internationally Accepted Principle of Cooperation among Cooperatives. This principle is an important approach to provide development interventions and technical assistance to the cooperatives.

To ensure the smooth implementation of the Koop Kapatid Program, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was forged, by Gledco Multipurpose Cooperative, as the big brother cooperative, represented by its Chairperson Enrico A. Aurelio, the Balatong MPC, as the small brother cooperative represented by its Chairperson, Carmelo P. Ventura, and the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) R1 represented by Dr. Josefina B. Bitonio, Regional Director.

The partnership gave a positive result because the Big brother cooperative unselfishly shared its resources to help its Small brother cooperative by providing trainings and capacity building activities to officers and members, conducted consultation/ dialogue with the cooperative to hear their needs, provided skills development trainings, mentoring and consultancy services.

Gledco MPC also provided financial assistance to support the micro-enterprise to increase member’s income. The big brother cooperative also assisted the small brother cooperative in preparing the mandatory reports required by the CDA resulted in the timely submission of the said mandatory reports.

The assistance of the big brother cooperative continuously enable and enhance the capabilities of the officers and staff of the small brother cooperative in sustaining good governance, compliance to regulatory requirements in CDA and other National Government Agencies and finally, the scaling up from micro to small category of the small brother is ensured (ROSIEVIC R. MEDINA. CDS II)