As CDA faced the challenge in developing micro cooperatives or those cooperative having less than three million assets, it issued a developmental and regulatory circular through CDAMC 2017-01. As developmental memorandum, it mandates that cooperative officers must comply with the minimum and basic training requirements for micro cooperatives. As a regulatory memorandum or directive, it allows the Cooperative Development Authority to conduct the basic training requirement only for officers of micro cooperatives. This directive will now allow CDA to conduct and certify the training on Fundamentals of Cooperatives (FoC) and Cooperative Management and Governance (CMG) only for micro cooperatives.

For the training to have impact among officer-participants of micro cooperatives, a partnership is necessary to provide a reality on the advancement of cooperatives rather than the purely theoretical cooperative concepts.  As one cooperative with a living proof of its successful cooperative business model and accessible to training participants in the basic training requirements, the Treasure Link Cooperative Society (TLCS) is the most appropriate partner. Having its newly built building in the central Baguio district, the TLCS’

HEART AND HOME will provide accessibility and better accommodation.  Above all, the TLCS’ HEART AND HOME, a cooperative tower in Queen of Peace, Baguio City will the more motivate the feeling of officers among micro cooperatives to embrace cooperative as their business structure.

The Board of Directors of the TLCS approved the agreement and is scheduled for the ceremonial signing during the inauguration of the TLCS Heart and Home building. The roles and agreement in the partnership between the TLCS and CDA-CAR are as for TLCS:

1. To promote, as partner, the importance of the mandatory training, within the Cordillera Administrative Region;
2. To accept the request for mandatory training from requesting micro cooperatives and coordinate such to CDA-CAR;
3. To allow the use of hall, for micro cooperatives, at minimal cost to cover snacks, meals and cost of maintenance in the conduct of mandatory trainings

As for the CDA-CAR, it agrees to:

1. Primarily implement the aims and purpose of CDAMC 2017-01 of providing free on two mandatory training for micro on the Fundamentals of Cooperatives and on the Cooperative Management and Governance;
2. Provide training certificates only to micro cooperative participants
3. Authorize the TLCS, to act on behalf of CDA as coordinator in booking training for the mandatory trainings;
4. Conduct the mandatory trainings needed by micro cooperatives every second Friday of the month; and
5. Remind users of the hall to maintain cleanliness and order in the hall.

Meantime, the training for free has been a contentious issue between the accredited training providers and the accreditor as the former sees it as undemocratic for a regulator to take over a developmental function that are already delegated to a training provider. However, for every policy, there is always a rationale. The reason of the memorandum circular is to provide incentive for micro cooperatives to be motivated in mainstreaming the dynamics of the cooperative industry among their officers.  – Martin B. Manodon