REPORTS ON TRAINING COURSES

(2) FY2019 ICA-Japan Training Course on “Empowering Women in Business and Management of Agricultural Cooperatives”

Participating in the Fukushima Prefectural Congress of Ie-no-Hikari Association

Six women from Southeast Asia and South Asia participated in the above-titled training course for the purpose of “improving the capacity of rural women leaders” for about three weeks from July 22. They deepened their understanding on a wide range of topics from communication skills to agricultural cooperatives’ business activities, the role of directors, and women’s entrepreneurship.

Visiting a woman member farmer of JA Fukushima Mirai and experiencing asparagus harvesting

In Fukushima Prefecture, where they went for field study visits, the participants had a good opportunity to observe the “Fukushima Prefectural Congress of Ie-no-Hikari Association” on the first day of their visit, enabling them to make a good start with all the participants being overwhelmed by the performances staged by the members of the women’s association. After that, with the cooperation of JA Fukushima Mirai, the participants listened to briefings at such places as the grading center for “Akatsuki,” a peach that is a representative fruit of Fukushima, the financial business center, and the day care center. The participants also interacted with the executive members of Fukushima Prefectural Council of JA Women’s Associations and woman member farmers, so they could be exposed to the actual situation of the multi-purpose business activities conducted by JAs as well as such activities from the perspective of women. There was a participant who said: “Through the training, I was able to learn how the JA and women’s associations are supporting rural women and got ideas that can be used in our country and cooperatives.” In this way, each participant acquired new knowledge and went on their way home on August 11.