Viti Simmons Home Page

Day 9

Jutpani Cooperative 4 Annual General Meeting

When I last visited the Microfinance Cooperative they were preparing for their first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in February 2011.  So it was poignant that our visit this time should align with their 4th AGM and we were fortunate to be included towards the end of their meeting. It was during this opportunity that we could see how the Jutpani Board Members and members have grown in their personal capacity and business knowledge from training to confidently carry out their roles at the AGM and provide support to one another. 

From an observational point of view it was so inspiring to see firsthand this transformation. Unfortunately, I did not capture the members who were just outside the cooperative office.

The following are images taken at the AGM:

Left: Naline, Rafael, Erin, Nina, Kira and Ramchandra.

Jutpani Board Members, Staff and District Cooperative Officer.

Ramchandra  assisted in the translation of the meeting.

Sushma Lama and Sristi Lama - Office Staff.

Left Dipendra KC Co-Founder of Hands with Hands.

Erin and Nina as we say goodbye to Cooperative members.

After the AGM Shila whose role is now the Cooperative's Facilitator/Social Mobilzer took us on a short walk around the village so we could meet some of their Jutpani Cooperative members. When I first visited the Microfinance Cooperatives they were operating as 4 groups. A decision was made for self-sustainability reasons to combine the 4 cooperatives to make one large cooperative. They now have 500 members.

Viti and Shila Pandey

A member of the cooperative who purchased a mustard seed crusher with her microcredit loan to produce and sell mustard oil. The mustard crops are now in flower and the paddocks of yellow reminded me of the canola crops in WA.