The People’s Economic Forum 2021, a virtual all-day conference organized by SANASA International, was successfully held recently, laying the foundation for a comprehensive discourse on the strengths of the cooperative sector and its potential to help achieve national development goals.
The forum, sponsored by the EFFECS (SANASA Entrepreneur Financial Expertise Centre) and implemented by the Development International Desjardins (DID) under the funding arrangements of the Global Affairs of CANADA, brought together key actors who have been involved in developing, sponsoring and regulating cooperative enterprises at national and international levels.
The former Governor of the Central Bank, Prof. W.D. Lakshman, who was the Chief Guest, pointed out that the cooperative sector plays an important role even in developed economies and emphasized the importance of cooperatives moving to promote the enterprise element and enhance efficiencies in the production process.
“Over the last 75 years, Sri Lanka has used almost every development model, tool and strategies, within many different frameworks. Due to some social democratic strategies the country has advanced on social indicators, but we have not been able to develop the economy to reap benefits from these social achievements,” he observed. The cooperative sector, which represents 25% of the population, can play a big role in this, he said.
The EFECS Project Director Pierre Markowski welcomed the initiative and reaffirmed DID’s commitment towards building awareness about the cooperative enterprise model. He also explained the role of DID in building the SME sector through Entrepreneur financial centers in the developing countries and stated that EFECS, the centre which was developed with SANASA International, will continue building cooperative enterprises and support the growth of local value chains.