“It transformed us!” That is how David Emmanuel Hatier and Caroline Simard described their awareness tour in Vietnam from June 10 to 19 as the grand prize winners of the fifth annual DoingMyPart.Coop contest organized by Développement international Desjardins (DID).

They were accompanied by two board members and two employees from Desjardins cooperatives: Hélène Munger, a young board member with the Caisse Desjardins des Chutes de Montmorency, Dany Richard, a young board member with the Caisse Desjardins d’Aylmer, Claudine Turcotte, cooperative development advisor at the Caisse Desjardins du Lac-Memphrémagog and Catherine St-Pierre, a teller at the Caisse Desjardins des Verts-Sommets de l'Estrie. These four participants were chosen from participating Desjardins cooperatives.

For photos and more comments from the participants, download their trip diary!

To set foot in Africa, meet with Burkinans who are employees or directors of local financial cooperatives, exchange ideas with Canadian international aid workers, soak up the local culture... these were a few of the goals that Pierre, Marie-Claude, Alexandra, Francyn, Mathieu and Martine set for themselves before their departure for an awareness tour in Burkina Faso which took place from May 21 to May 30, 2010. Organized by Développement international Desjardins (DID), which has been involved in microfinance support projects in this country since 1972, the tour transformed their project into an experience they will not soon forget...

Download the First-Hand Accounts of participants to the awareness tour in Burkina Faso (May 2010)

At the heart of this mission: discovering the microfinance sector, which occupies an important place in the financial milieu of many countries, and the role and contribution of Desjardins to the financial sector, whether in the capital, Mexico City, Guadalajara or Huasteca, a rural region in the east of the country.

On the menu: visits to Mexican financial cooperatives, meetings with representatives of the federations of savings and credit cooperatives and discussions with members, employees and managers of the cooperatives.

« I had already traveled in Mexico," notes Richard Archambault, "but this time I discovered a brand new facet. It surprised me to learn that access to credit was difficult for Mexicans, and that when it was available the interest rates were very high in the banks, as high as 30%. In my opinion, the savings and credit cooperatives that we visited are a tangible alternative for meeting the challenge of access to basic financial services. ».

At the end of their trip, Richard, Karine and Nancy returned to Québec with a new feeling of pride. Richard mentions a discussion that the three had: « Before learning about DID and discovering the nature of its support to the microfinance sector in Mexico, I would have had a hard time saying what the difference was between Desjardins and Canadian banks – or in other words, how the cooperative nature of my financial institution was an advantage for me. Now, the difference is very clear! »

This is what Mike Lafleur wrote in his trip diary, on returning from Tanzania:

“When John F Kennedy famously said “a rising tide can lift all boats,” he wasn’t talking about economic development in Africa. Yet his sentiments apply very nicely to microcredit.

During my stay in Tanzania, I had the opportunity to visit several financial cooperatives throughout Dar es Salaam and hear from members and staff about their successes and challenges first hand. Members proudly shared their stories of how their businesses grew leading to subsequent loans and increased profits. Staff members in turn spoke to the steady growth of members and savings while printing off the latest reports from their desktop computers.

In a country struggling with fraud and corruption, the network of financial cooperatives was indeed acting as the ‘rising tide’ as they continue to lead the way to sustainable development through good governance, committed leadership, technological advancements, training and education and social responsibility.”

This international development awareness tour was offered by DID to the grand prize winners. It enabled Marie-Hélène and Jean-Sébastien to travel to the capital Asunción where they visited four cooperative financial institutions belonging to the CENCOPAN network to which DID microfinance experts-advisors provided technical assistance.

In her trip diary, Marie-Hélène noted that she learned the importance, when providing support to developing countries, of adapting both the process and resources to the local needs of the financial sector in the country being supported.

"Visiting the CENCOPAN financial cooperatives, I learned a great deal about microfinance, how it operates and its impact, which is significant. In addition, I was able to see the tangible effects of Desjardins activities in Paraguay on the development of microfinance."

Marie-Hélène and Jean-Sébastien, who were already involved in international development projects, had the opportunity to add to their experience and open themselves to new realities in the sector.

In her journal, Marie-Hélène expressed it in these words: "What I have learned, are methods for intervention that I could replicate in development projects in Québec and abroad. Even if my projects will be mainly in the health sector, because I am studying medicine, certain concepts concerning interaction between cultures remain applicable. Especially since I believe that the accessibility of health care is very often closely linked to the accessibility of financial resources."