Four Jamaicans receive I-CUDE award

Four Jamaicans were among 27 persons who received the coveted International Credit Union Development Educator (I-CUDE) award at the recently concluded Caribbean and World Council of Credit Unions Conference in The Bahamas. They were the largest number from any of the recipient countries.

The four awardees are known for their work in the Jamaican credit union movement. They are: Leodis Douglas, Claudette Christie, Lenroy Allen and Anthony Morrison. The I-CUDE award is presented to individuals who have exemplified themselves by being mentors, completing projects linked to United National Sustainable Development goals that have benefited individual and communities and are involved in development education programmes, locally and overseas.

The I-CUDE award is the highest award of the Credit Union Development Educators (CUDE) programme, which is in operation in Africa, the United States, Canada, Philippines and the Caribbean. Former World Council of Credit Union’s director, Melvin Edwards, who hails from St Lucia, is the executive director of the programme in the Caribbean.

Leodis Douglas

Leodis Douglas completed a project at the First Heritage Co-operative Credit Union (FHCCU) which now benefits retired volunteers. Through her instrumentality, a retirees’ fund was launched entitled ‘The Decades of Service Club’.

This project was centred on services to bedrock members, to improve their economic and social wellbeing. Persons who are retired volunteers continue to receive recognition from FHCCU and are assisted financially. The ‘Decades of Service Club’ was launched in 2017 and retirees, some of whom have been members since the 1970s, have been honoured.

Claudette Christie

Claudette Christie, group marketing and communications manager at the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League (JCCUL) saw the need to capture the history of Jamaica’s credit union movement in a book format. In 2017, she successfully completed a 164-page narrative and later an accompanying pictorial (from the archives of The Gleaner) of the history of the credit union movement in Jamaica from 1940 2017.

Lenroy Allen

In 2017, the movement embarked on a programme to assist credit unions to adopt the IFRS 9 accounting standard. It was a tedious task but in stepped Allen who developed an appropriate application that provided a significant technological solution. His project involved the development and implementation of a user-friendly IFRS 9 model that speaks the language of credit unions across multiple regions. The model has assisted credit unions to adequately comply with IFRS 9 provisions in accordance with the IFRS 9 guidelines. Since his successful début of the application in Jamaica, several other Caribbean islands have been able to adopt the solution to assist them in the setting up of their IFRS 9 framework.

Anthony Morrison

Anthony Morrison, marketing manager at Portland Co-operative Credit Union (PCCU) is deeply involved in community work in his parish. His project was to develop the PCCU’s ‘Information Central’ as an ongoing forum to inform, educate and spread the credit union story in Jamaica. This was developed in February 2018 by organising six tech savvy staff members at the PCCU into a resource group, which is responsible for receiving and responding to questions asked by way of WhatsApp, text, telephone calls and emails. The purpose of the Information Central is to use existing and cost effective technology to facilitate awareness, brand loyalty and effective communication.