This post summarises (1)
the outputs of the General Assembly Meetings that was held on 28th
October 2013; and (2) gives detail on governance and finance aspects of
the project to update the different stakeholders on (3) progress towards
establishing the Barefoot Cooperative.
(1)
General Assembly
Meetings
The two meetings
required by the Sudan cooperative law were held concurrently. They are held in the
presence of a representative from the cooperatives’ office where registration
is requested. The following points summarise the minutes of the meetings.
·
Venue: Hai Eldubat
(Officers’ neighbourhood) Club, Hai Eldubat, Omdurman
·
Date: 4 – 6pm,
Monday 28th October 2013
· Number of attendees:
104 [in presence of Mr. Suliman Mahgoub – Representative of Cooperative
Registration, Omdurman Office]
· Main Discussion Points:
The proceedings of the meeting follow the process required for registration of
cooperatives that include (a) general introduction (delivered by
Cooperatives Representative) on the role, opportunities and rules of
cooperatives. The discussion is conducted in a way that meeting participants
get a chance to inquire about any aspect of the cooperative and their
participation as members. The second part (b) of the meeting is
dedicated to arriving at a consensus on management aspects such as share value,
membership fees, and governance structure.
a)
Q & A during
general introduction:
Questions were
asked about members and steps to gain or abort a membership, fiscal year, types
of cooperatives, what is a good type to choose for this cooperative, its name
and purpose and how it can relate to other organisations and cooperatives. The
cooperative representative responded and explained the process of forming an
executive committee which becomes the governance structure that deals with
according the cooperatives law and regulations. He also gave information on
yearly reporting, finance management and discussed the types of cooperatives
and indicated that the proposed model allows different activities.
b)
Suggestions during
discussion on Management aspects:
There were two suggestions for the value of a share,
200 and 100 SDG (both excluding the membership fee[1]
of 10 SDG), and the total value of a share to be spread in instalments over a
year. There was one suggestion (seconded) regarding the size of the executive
committee to be set to 11 members and who can act as establishment-phase
committee. It was also suggested that the cooperative will be hosted in Mirri
and Laggori community clubs until a hosting and eventually a permanent location
will be organised.
·
Decisions:
i.
General consensus on
proposed name and type of Cooperative as Barefoot Cooperative, to be registered
as multi-purpose.
ii.
Voting on the two
suggestions for the value of one share favoured the 200 SDG option. This
involves setting the membership (entrance) fee to 10 SDG (required by end of
the meeting) and the first instalment at 50 SDG to be paid in two weeks from the
date of the General Assembly Meeting. The remaining 150 SDG to be paid as
instalments with the year.
iii. A list[2]
of 11 members was unanimously endorsed by the general assembly as the first
executive committee of the Barefoot Cooperative.
(2)
Governance and
Finance
The management
of the project has now transferred to the executive committee who met 2 times
since its formation (on 3rd and 10th, November 2013). The
executive committee is concerned with the finalising the registration process. This
requires submitting to the cooperatives’ office the membership names with
evidence that membership fees have been collected, in addition to the minutes of the
general assembly meeting. To date the following have been achieved:
·
Hai Eldubat will host the
Barefoot Cooperative until a place is rented.
·
Use of Amal Adam personal
bank account[3] as
a temporary deposit account and a mechanism to manage finance.
· The deadline for payment of
first instalment is 27th November 2013 (the total amount that will
be collected is 5000 [4]SDG).
The team is also
running the day-to-day tasks, working on establishing the work ethos such as
the internal constitution, financial system, etc. in liaison with the
cooperatives’ office. The project finance is primarily composed at this stage
of first instalment collections (ongoing) and an account of the fund raising
activity that was conducted to cater for the general assembly meeting expenses
(summarised below):
·
Estimated expenses was
6,645 SDG that include the following:
a)
Transportation of 13
members from Kadugli to Khartoum (return) =
5,200 SDG
b)
Transportation of the
remaining 87 members from Haj Yousif & Ombadda to Hai Eldubat (return) =
640 SDG
c)
Meeting refreshments =
400 SDG
d) Miscellaneous Registration fees (registrar and registration) =
405 SDG
·
An appeal for financial
support was sent out (14 October 2013) on email and shared among immediate
circle of organisers. A number of donors came forward and a decision was made
to reduce the number of members to come from Kadugli. 11 out of 13 Kadugli
names were replaced with new members (who reside in Khartoum) while the
remaining two were Barefoot Women Solar Engineers (Khadiga Omar and Umhaggen
Ramadan).
·
This appeal generated 2120 SDG
and the actual expenses of the meetings (to cover the items above) equalled
2400 SDG. A system of financial accounts was set to be followed by organisers
in charge of the various tasks (such as preparing meeting refreshments,
arranging transportation). See financial statement of theGeneral Assembly Meeting expenses.
(3)
Project Progress
The main
progress point was holding the general assembly and starting the official
process of registration. This job was carried out by the preparatory committee
that included representatives from Mirri and Aldorot in addition to Amal and
Gada. The executive committee that was elected at the general assembly is
following on the steps required to complete the official registration process
of the Barefoot Cooperative. This includes assigning committee offices,
collecting first instalments from all members, opening a bank account, and
obtaining the registration certificate, as well as liaising with cooperative
office regarding setting the internal constitution, training programme, and
other types of support given to cooperatives in formation.
This progress
would not have been possible without the efforts of the preparatory committee
who organised the meeting, and by the contributions of the following:
·
Ms. Amal Adam who took on
her voluntary role as project manager and oversaw most of the preparation
efforts and managed the budget. She will be following as an executive committee
member the establishment of the cooperative.
· Ms. Saadia Abdelfarag Rahama
who contacted Hai Aldubat Club to host the general assembly.
·
The Club’s management who
offered their premises free of charge as well as the use of their facilities
(tent, chairs water coolers, etc.). The kindly extended their support and
offered to host the cooperative is this establishment phase.
· Mr. Suliman Mahgoub from
the Cooperative authorities who responded to all queries and discussed the
various opportunities for cooperatives.
· The donors who without
their generous contributions this meeting would not have been possible with the
same ease as their donations have help to take the pressure off the organisers
and cooperative members.
This post was sent as report to project stakeholders on 17th November 2013.
[1]
This is a requirement from cooperative authority that an entrance fee is
collected from the membership to cater for expenses of executive committee
meetings and general management of the cooperative.
[2]
The list was prepared during the preparation phase that involved meetings with
representatives from the beneficiary communities (Mirri and Laggori/Aldorot),
stated in the project proposal. According to the cooperatives law, membership
is open to the public who fulfil specific conditions, however, in this project,
women and the Barefoot Women Solar Engineers were the proposed focus (refer to
Concept Note and October Progress Report). The membership lists that were
compiled by each community observed a ratio of 7:3 for female to male. This
ratio was also reflected in the executive committee that includes 6 women
(including Mona Aursal and Khadiga Omar) and 4 men (5 members from each
community); in addition to Amal Adam who will represent a neutral entity to
help in managing the project and follow with donors (and Gada).
[3]
This is an unused bank account that belongs to Amal Yassin Adam at Omdurman
National Bank). It will be used temporarily (and governed
through deposit slips and regular bank statements) for saving membership fees.
Upon completion of the registration process, the cooperative is allowed to open
its own bank account.
[4]
This is the amount of the first instalments (50 SDG) multiplied by 100 members.
