BANJUL, Gambia– As part of an effort to provide capacity building for all credit union personnel in the country, the National Association of Cooperative Credit Unions of Gambia (NACCUG) recently held a four-day training on record keeping for bookkeepers in Brikama and Bwiam chapters.
The training, held at the Samasang Federation Office in Brikama, was organized in collaboration with Sparkassenstiftung Fur International Kooperation Isavings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation (SBFIC), and aimed at ensuring efficient record keeping in the community credit unions of the two chapters.
The Programme Manager of NACCUG said the four-day training targeted all the 32 bookkeepers in Brikama and Bwiam chapters, who were divided into two groups of 16 participants.
NACCUG seed a primary goal of the training is to ensure that members’ funds are protected. But the trade group also recognizes that record keeping remains a challenge, primarily at what are known here as the community credit unions, and not what are referred to as institutional credit unions.
“I want the participants to make good use of the training and the knowledge gained, because we wish to see the impact of this training in the safety and soundness terms of record keeping in their credit unions,” said a spokesperson. “Credit union is geared towards financial independence of communities for cheaper and affordable financial services.”
Yaya Colley, the Marketing and Promotion Officer at NACCUG, told a local media outlet that capacity building is very relevant, but applying what is learned is far more important as NACCUG) has realized through their field assistants that when there are record deficiencies, collecting timely statistics becomes difficult.