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Pierre Landry, Daouda Sawadogo (Director General - RCPB), Marcel Lauzon (Board Chair of DID and the Caisse Desjardins de Saint-Jérôme), Sanou Lagassani (RCPB Board Chair), Guy Vaillancourt (DID Program Officer) and Jean-Claude Jalbert. |
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Awareness tour in Burkina Faso
THE INFLUENCE OF ALPHONSE DESJARDINS BEYOND OUR BORDERS
Last Fall, the RCPB network of financial cooperatives in Burkina Faso welcomed participants in the fourth awareness tour organized by DID under the North-South Partnership: Jean-Claude Jalbert, Director General of the Caisse Desjardins Saint-Joseph de Hull, and Pierre Landry, Director General of the Caisse Desjardins Saint-Raymond de Hull.
“We were astonished to discover the number of similarities in the challenges presented by growth encountered by the RCPB cooperatives and those experienced by our own cooperatives in recent years,” pointed out Jean-Claude Jalbert. The computerization goals of the Burkinan cooperatives required that the RCPB reconfigure its network to ensure improved efficiency. The representatives from Desjardins were able to exchange ideas on the subject and discuss their experience with RCPB managers.
The participants were very impressed by the interest of Burkinans in the new technologies and their positive reaction to changes in their work methods. Pierre Landry observed this during visits to the cooperatives and regional unions. “What took us a decade to integrate into our work methods, the RCPB employees did in half the time. I am very proud to note that their progress today is possible due to their entrepreneurial spirit, their willingness to invest their own funds to modernize their network and also to support from the Desjardins financial cooperatives and the 35-year partnership with Développement international Desjardins.”
This was the last in a series of four awareness tours that eight managers and directors had the opportunity to take. The tours began in 2003 and were made possible through the collaboration of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). |
