KYIV, Ukraine–It’s International Credit Union Week, and while there are more than 85,000 credit unions in the world, CUToday.info is kicking off a week-long series on various CU developments around the globe with a focus on the country that has much of the world’s attention, Ukraine.
Prior to Russia’s invasion of the country Ukraine had more than 300 mostly small credit unions, most serving the agricultural sector. While many remain active, the status of some CUs in areas of the country occupied by Russia remains largely unknown.
The war against Ukraine was launched in February of this year just ahead of the largest meeting of CUs in the United States, CUNA’s GAC. As CUToday.info reported here, during the meeting Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States and a representative of one Ukrainian-American credit union asked for help from CUs while defiantly pledging Ukraine would fight and resist and, ultimately, prevail.
More recently, the World Council of Credit Unions said Ukraine’s credit unions have been able to navigate the stress and challenges brought on by the country’s war in Russia thanks in part to lessons learned as a result of its Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ewa Sierzynska speaking during event.
“I think now that infrastructure is being disrupted, this is where we can support them (credit unions), and this is where we’re helping them reach out to the members,” said Ewa Sierzynska, chief of party for the CAP Project. “There are areas where the cell phone networks for Ukrainian providers were not working. They were not able to call members because those lines were cut. So, that’s where the technology that we were teaching them to improve their lending business proved very efficient in being responsive and continued in the war.”
Sierzynska’s comments were made during a panel discussion on “Cooperatives in Times of Crisis” at NCBA CLUSA’s 2022 Cooperative Impact Conference in Washington.
Polish CU Leader to Offer Update
Rafal Matusiak, president of the trade association for Poland’s credit unions, NACSCU, will join the Underground Collision in Las Vegas to offer an update on how the country’s CUs have been assisting Ukrainian refugees. The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 22-23.
As CUToday.info was first to report, most recently here, Sue Mitchell, president of Mitchell Stankovic & Associates, which hosts the Underground Collision meeting, and Brian Branch, the former CEO of the World Council of Credit Unions, joined with Bruce Foulke, president and CEO of American Heritage FCU, in leading the formation of a relief fund that raised money to help Poland’s credit unions as they assisted the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees who fled the Russian invasion.
Their efforts included an Underground broadcast from Lublin, Poland, less than 100 miles from the border, that shared an update on the initiative and the fundraising. Much of the fundraising went towards the purchase of medical supplies.
“The Polish credit unions continue to provide various assistance to refugees. Not all of them want to boast about it,” said Matusiak. “So far, more than 1,300 Ukrainians have become Polish credit union members and we are working daily to provide assistance.”
According to the Underground, Matusiak will travel from Poland to Las Vegas to share real stories where this direct collaboration between American and Polish credit unions made a difference. He will also describe the current situation and the role credit unions are playing to create a future for Ukrainian refugees.
To register, go here.
Additional Reporting
Other CUToday.info reporting on Ukraine has included:
100 Farmers Benefit
In September, WOCCU reported a $100,000 loan reimbursement program made possible by the Worldwide Foundation for Credit Unions’ (WFCU) Ukrainian Credit Union Displacement Fund has already provided targeted aid to 100 farmers facing a food security crisis brought on by Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to WOCCU.
Ukrainian farmer who benefitted from fund.
Since launch in June through the World Council of Credit Unions' Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project and Ridnia, a Ukrainian NGO, 100 farmers have been reimbursed on 10% of their principal payments for agricultural loans they took out at Ukrainian credit unions from Feb. 24-April 30, according to the Worldwide Foundation.
These types of loans typically average 50,000 UAH (US $1,700).
For details, go here.
First-Hand Reports from Ukraine
Credit unions attending WOCCU’s World Credit Union Conference in Glasgow, Scotland were given first-hand accounts of the extreme challenges to, the reality for, and the even the defiance exhibited by credit unions in Ukraine six months after Russia’s invasion.
The country’s credit unions face issues unlike those that have ever faced a modern credit union community, with one person who has been working in the country noting that before many Ukrainian credit unions can reopen their doors, they will need to get actual doors first.
In an update on events in that country where a fledgling credit union movement has been upended by the invasion, three people—including one person who is a native of Ukraine and another who has been working in the country—shared what life is like and what credit unions are doing—or trying to do—in Ukraine.
That story can be found here.
Managing Remotely
As CUToday.info has reported, the World Council has been implementing the USAID-funded CAP Project since 2016 with a goal of providing needed lending to smallholder farmers and agribusinesses through its partner credit unions.
Managing the project remotely from Poland since the start of the full-scale war in February, WOCCU noted Sierzynska returned to Ukraine with other members of the CAP team in September to work face-to-face with credit unions and their member farmers.
“And it’s really inspiring to see young people, who are well educated, speak all the languages, have opportunities to leave, and they decide in the time of crisis, ‘We’re going to stay and we’re going to farm the land. We cannot farm the land remotely’,” said Sierzynska. “And I think it’s incredibly inspiring, and they need help, and the credit union is there to serve them. There’s nobody else to support them.”
The World Council reported that while Sierzynska noted that it is hard to know how many credit unions are still operating in Ukraine’s east, where Russian troops are still occupying entire regions, credit unions in the rest of Ukraine have essentially never stopped lending or supporting their local communities.
Ukraine Project Extended
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has approved an extension of World Council of Credit Unions’ (WOCCU) Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project in Ukraine through March 2023.
As CUToday.info reported, according to WOCCU, the extension will allow the CAP Project to continue improving the regulatory environment for credit unions in Ukraine, extending more credit union loans to the country’s farmers and agribusinesses—and working with credit unions to improve their liquidity.
Originally established in 2016, WOCCU said the CAP Project has expanded access to agricultural credit by:
- Supporting Ukraine’s credit union associations to better advocate for credit union interests with the national regulator and to better serve their member institutions
- Working directly with a group of 23 credit unions to build their capacity to extend more than 10,000 loans to rural and agricultural micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
- Supporting the development of new financial regulations for the credit union sector, which were approved in December 2019 and implemented in March 2020
U.S. Reps Visit Region
Earlier this year, retired WOCCU President Brian Branch, who currently serves as an advisor to the Polish regional credit union center, was joined by Bruce Fouke, CEO of American Heritage FCU, in travelling to Poland, which neighbors Ukraine and which has seen millions of refugees from Ukraine, to work with Rafal Matusiak, president of the National Association of Cooperative Savings and Credit Unions (NACSCU) and Chair of World Council of Credit Unions.
American Heritage sponsored the trip.
What the two men discovered and the response effort they have led is detailed here.
Fundraising is Ongoing
The Worldwide Foundation of Credit Unions, WOCCU’s philanthropic arm, is overseeing the Ukrainian CU Displacement Fund. Donations can be made here.
