As these programs are not merely advertising gimmicks, the need of the hour is that these quality assurance validation programs need deeper recognition, wider accpetance and bona fide appreciation in the national spectrum that will work as stimuli for the apex body to get going.

- Ranjan Mani Paudyal ( rmp19nefscun@gmail.com)

In a recent webinar organized to delve deep into the  multiple avenues paved by the upcoming fiscal year's national budget in the cooperative sector, Dr. Ramsharan Kharel, Research Department Director at Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and an official involved in shaping up the budget, expressed his sheer astonishment at the long ongoing benchmarking and standardization programs of financial cooperatives in Nepal initiated by Nepal Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperative Unions Ltd. (NEFSCUN)

As a credit union practitioner, I see Kharel's remarks as a flagrant instance of the lacklusture demonstrated by the government, line ministry and NRB in recognizing the sizeable contribution of the cooperative sector as a whole and financial cooperatives in precise. My claim is not only it terms of capital generation and employment opportunities, but also in meeting pre-requsities of internationally accpeted financial prudence by a significant number of credit cooperatives in the country.

Amidst the program when he was let known about the endeavours of NEFSCUN with a brief interruption, his visage was worth-noticing. Kharel even questioned whether these activities do find ample media exposure. This write up, an attempts to shed light upon national and international standardization programs run by NEFSCUN, is a headway.

During the promotional phase of cooperatives, grabbing the luxury granted by the regulatory bodies, institutions mushroomed and later it became difficult to monitor and discipline. The reasons are manifest. Short staffed line ministry and department coupled with the autonomy principle tagged with the universally accepted cooperative principle. Not to forget the ill intentioned endeavours of a handful of so called cooperators in stigmatization of a pillar of national economy recognized constitutionally. Consequently, NEFSCUN as a guardian, realized the urgency to discipline its offsprings, mustered courage to join hands with  Association of Asian Confederation of Credit Unions, ACCU in importing tools to monitor its member coopertatives. The rest is the history which ironically has either gone unnoticed or deliberately made inaccessible to the concerned authorities.

Chairman of NEFSCUN, Paritosh Paudyal expresses his affirmation that the national and international quality assurance programs run by NEFSCUN are its' cornerstones. Paudyal told that NEFSCUN has been reiterating the open secret that standardization and stabilization are the two wheels of a chariot. The sustainability of  any financial cooperative is based on the standardization of its quality and involvement in stabilization fund that act as protective shields against any kind of debacle. He admits that balancing the wheels in order to reach to the goals set by NEFSCUN is the fundamental task of the present leadership. 'We have left no stone unturned to make our members understand that the two must work in tandem,' said chairman Paudyal.

The Chief Executive Officer at NEFSCUN, Shivajee Sapkota informed that the examplary credit cooperatives of the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Brazil, Kenya and others have maintained sound  financial prudence in risk mitigation and management, proportionate finacial balance and good governance. 'All thanks to the mandatory provision of benchmarking financial cooperatives by the central federation in aforementioned countries', Sapkota added. He stressed that the standards set by the umbrella federations are so high that they impart utmost degree of performance assurance and management credibility to the government. CEO Sapkota further told that in due course of time, if there are some financial mishaps, the stabilization fund set up with the compulsory monetary contribution of member organizations will help regain the momentum by accelerating pace. That is why NEFSCUN has crusaded the campaign in favour of standardization and stabilization terming them as the two formidable forces to further SACCOS movement in Nepal.

The techincally crafted team of NEFSCUN headed by Durga Prasad Dhakal has been involved round the clock to provide on site inspection and off site supervision to the members. Dhakal who is the head of the Member Service Department of NEFSCUN opines that the quality assurance programs have worked wonders to the members in strengthening their financial capabilities and institutional management procedures resulting in increased productivity. 'We started with 7 in the first year and now have more than 6 dozen credit cooperatives willing to meet the asian benchmark,' Dhakal remarked. He finds it easy in the sense that he has been briskly involved in steering both the wheels of standardization and stabilization. 'Both are directly related and we have been successful in convincing our members that the two programs should go simultaneously if they are to achive greater degree of member satisfaction and growth', Dhakal informed.

ACCESS
The acronym stands for A1 Competitive Choice for Excellence in Service and Soundness. It is the only international standardization program run so far. Commenced in Nepal in 2007 A.D with the technical guidance and assitance from ACCU, Thailand based sole conglomeration of credit unoins in the Asia Pacific region, NEFSCUN exclusively inherited and introduced the maiden asian standardization program in Nepal. ACCESS is a tool to institutionalisation of SACCOS. Its yardsticks of quality assurance comprises 4 pertinent areas:

1.Financial Safety and Soundness
2.Quality Products and Services for Member Satisfaction 
3.Operational Efficiency and Competitive Position
4.Learning and Growth 

There are 86 indicators to measuring the key areas and the successful ones are bestowed on a validation of Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze as per excellence level.

According to Prem Wagle, the senior officer overseeing the ACCESS program at NEFSCUN,  altogether 71 primary credit cooperatives have  enrolled in the Asin benchmarking program in 2020. The final audit is done by the certified auditors from ACCU for which all of  them are working diligently to meet the standard. Wagle termed meeting the criteria as a daunting task amid the COVID-19 pandemic as it has brought finacial tremors. However, in a recent webinar, the Chief Executive officer of ACCU, Elenita V San Roque had lucidly stated that there would be no excuse and compromise in regard to meeting the statutory requirements set by the governing body.

Chief Executive Officer at Chandragiri Savings and Credit Cooperative Ltd, Krishna Kumar Shrestha highlighted that ACCESS program has given due importance to professionalization of human resource in cooperative sector encapsulated in the form of standardization and quality assurance. 'It is because of such international requirements that  numerous cooperatives have upscaled their prowess in human capital which has become a blessing in disguise,' CEO Shrestha said. Shrestha, the only CEO from Nepal to fetch ACCESS silver brand for two primary credit cooperatives and in the run for a hat-trick from a third SACCOS, proclaims that if an institution top prioritizes member satisfaction and works accordingly, laurels and accolades do follow. He also elucidated that this year due to catastrophe it has seemingly become an uphill task, not only for Chandragiri SACCOS in particular but for all in general, to meeting up the asian benchmark.

It  is a matter of pride and honor for any SACCOS to be accredited from the regional apex body as it adds glory and fame. Last year, among 27 credit cooperatives accredited from around the Asia Pacific region, 24 were from Nepal. Durga Prasad Dhakal told that this outstanding  accomplishment was possible through the stringent financial discipline from the SACCOS along with the persistent guidance and technical shouldering from NEFSCUN. ACCESS demands strong institutional capital which ensures the longevity of any cooperative enterprise especially during these sorts of catastrophes.Any NEFSCUN affiliate above 1 thousand members and capital structure of 5 crore is eligible to contest for the accredition program that has a year long validity span. 

PROBATION
Spreading its wings, the technocrats of  NEFSCUN  designed identical standardization program called Program for Building Absolute and Professionalization (PROBATION) incorporating the best international financial disciplinary practices with the flavour of localization for its  suitability.

Initiated in 2012, it is a national accreditation program run jointly by the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperative and Poverty Alleviation and NEFSCUN. It is a business framework that guarantees legal, transparent and financial security of the transactions carried out by SACCOS.

The national standard program was developed solely by NEFSCUN and later it tried with all its might to convince the stereotypical bureaucratic mindset to acknowledge it. The initial hicuups were sorted out and it eventually got goverment recognition.

This year alone 211 credit cooperatives are vying to get the national quality assurance certification and one of them is Pokhara Royal SACCOS. Chief Executive Officer at Pokhara SACCOS, Bhim Gurung metaphorically compares enrollment in any quality assurance program as going to hospital early to cure malady rather than staying at home to further deteriorate the condition. Moreover, he links standardization programs with governance, glory and gradation. The immediate past board member of NEFSCUN, Gurung expressed absolute jubilation at the admission in PROBATION program as it has added vigour to members, board of directors and staffers. ' The board is assured in the sense that the management is preparing authentic reports, the memebrs have genuinely felt that their sacrifices in the form of savings are not only well protected but fairly multiplied and staffers are motivated in the sense that their excellence are consistenly upgraded with trainings and teachings,' elated CEO Gurung told.

Till date, dozens of savings and credit cooperatives have successfully met the national standards out of which some have upgraded to the ACCESS program while some have unfortunately become unable to even retain the standard the second time. Last year 34 got the reconition. Initially taken as a pre requsite step to crossing the boundary and achieving Asinan standard recognition, has now been revised and any institution meeting rudimentay conditions can directly jump on to ACCESS. It has 50 indicators. The primary institutions of NEFSCUN, having at least 500 members and a balance sheet of 5 crore are eligible to be admitted in this domestic venture valid for a year. The rigorous on site final audit is done by the certified auditors of NEFSCUN.

CURBS

From 2014, with the participation of 17 members, NEFSCUN embarked on a new journey called Credit Union Risk Based Supervision (CURBS), aiming to cater to those primary organizations that are willing to take a gradual step in disciplining them rather than a giant stride. It is also a matter of cost and transactions as the eligibility criteria of this program are convenient compared  to the previous ones. It consits of 75 indicators among which 25 are related to PEARLS (a financial monitoring tool designed by WOCCU and implemented in most of the financial cooperatives in Nepal upon the recommendation of the line ministry and department) and 50 others covering various risk related areas.This year alone 424 NEFSCUN member organizations have joined this program. Those primary institutions of NEFSCUN family, having at least 300 members and a balance sheet of 5 crore are eligible to join the program.

SARAW
It stands for SACCOS Risk Analysis Workshop. Started in 2018, it has 25 indicators among which 12 are financial indicators identical to CURBS and the remaining cover management and other governance related indicators. As the name suggests, it basically measures the risk level of a SACCOS and suggests steps to be taken to overcome financial and management crisis.The preparatory chores to join other  standardization programs start from SARAW. It's prime objective is to help the primary institutions that have annual balance sheet under 5 crore.

PALM
The Proficiency and Learning Management ( PALM) is a review  meeting of the group of credit cooperatives that are enrolled in ACCESS, PROBATION and CURBS programmes. All the affiliates present their latest financial and management activities and are suggested remedial measures to meet standards. The interactive meeting provides a platform to share their experience, achievement, impediments and future plans which act as lucrative feedback.

These all programs, in fact, are early warning tools which not only pick out the problems but impart lucid solutions. That is why these tools come handy and are termed troubleshooters. As the idiom goes, 'Time is the greatest healer', a lot of troubled credit coopetatives at this critical juncture have realized the real significance of such internationally and nationally accpeted standardization procedure and are ready to be a part of NEFSCUN network. However, NEFSCUN is taking a cautious step in this regard.

As these programs are not merely advertising gimmicks, the need of the hour is that these quality assurance validation programs need deeper recognition, wider accpetance and bona fide appreciation in the national spectrum that will work as stimuli for the apex body to get going. The nation needs to comprehend and financial cooperators need to put sincere effots to make the concerned authorities, members and potential members understand the significance of these tools to stabilize, strengthen and standardize financial  service providers  which ultimately empower and emancipate the downtrodden communities adding value to not only their lives but to the cooperative community as a whole. Clap for Cooperatives.