It was a day to remember for the country’s leading co-operative societies. The 100th annual International Ushirika Day Awards held on Saturday, July 2nd, was historic. Locally, it attracted the highest number of participants who proudly showcased the Kenyan Co-operative Identity to the world.
Various co-operative societies were celebrated and awarded for outstanding achievements and excellence in different business lines. President Uhuru Kenyatta and Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya were among the top dignitaries who graced the event.
The theme for this year was “Co-operatives Build a Better World,” and the event was held at the KICC grounds, Nairobi.
The Ushirika awards serve as a benchmark for good corporate governance within DT and Non-Withdrawable DT Saccos.
Co-operative Consultancy Services Limited usually conducts the Ushirika Awards Adjudication process.
This is a specialist subsidiary of Co-operative Bank, which mostly provides financial advisory services to the Co-operative movement.
Its key objective is to enhance the efficiency and profitability of the co-operative movement through the provision of affordable capacity-building solutions.
The Ushirika Annual awards are classified into eight categories: Best Deposit-Taking Savings and Credit Co-operative Society (Sacco) in Management, Capitalization, Savings Management, Credit Management, Efficiency, Risk Management, Technology Optimization and Most Improved Sacco.
Participation at the national Ushirika Awards remains voluntary for all the Saccos that fall under the supervision of the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA).
Boards of Saccos are usually rated on the dividend payout to members, portion of surplus that is retained, capitalization levels of the Sacco, and Savings management in terms of percentage growth of members’ deposits.
These Societies were also ranked based on their credit management, which attracts a weight of 10 per cent.
Adjudicators look at Sacco’s loan to deposit ratio, i.e., how much internal funds are used to lend to members. Those with a huge cache of internal funds have an advantage because they incur lesser interest expenses.
Saccos are also judged on their adherence to prudential guidelines that govern external borrowing as a percentage of total assets.
In this category, a Sacco is examined on how its members utilize the available loan facilities, the Society’s loan default management, the size of the loans in default, and those that are substandard or doubtful.
Other parameters to be measured include loan processing period and amount of loan request backlog that a Sacco has.
In the efficiency award category, parameters to be measured include the cost/income ratio, which defines how much a Sacco is using to generate a Shilling and the period a Sacco takes to process a loan.
In Risk Management Category, Saccos are ranked according to their insurance cover adequacy and how they manage risks using their insurance policies and credit and liquidity policies.
Saccos are also judged based on one’s information security, including tools used to fight cybercrime and maintain data security.
In the Technology optimization category, Saccos are examined on the nature of their management information systems and whether it covers all the Society’s core functions, financial management software and HR management system, and whether it is stand-alone or integrated.
Saccos are also judged on how they communicate to delegates, members, and other stakeholders using all the available technology platforms, including the existence of a website, its accessibility, services available on this site, any downloadable forms, picture gallery, posting of events relevant to members, as well as the existence of technologically enabled products and services, such as ATMs, and online applications, electronic cash transfers, and other services.
In the Most Improved Sacco Category, adjudicators look at a Society’s membership growth, capital and loans disbursed growth percentages, asset growth, and income growth.
The Best Managed Sacco category is one with the highest score in the above seven categories. All the winning categories are sub-divided into tier one (large Saccos), tier two (medium-sized) and tier three (small-sized Saccos), as well as non-deposit taking Saccos, marketing societies and housing societies.
United Nations DT Sacco was picked as the Best Managed Sacco in Kenya during the Ushirika Day 2022 celebrations, presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta at the KICC on July 4th, 2022.
The Society also won the first position as Best Managed Employer-Based tier 1 Deposit-Taking Sacco in Kenya, Best in Savings Management Countrywide, and Best in Savings Employer-based tier 1 DT Sacco in Kenya.
Also featuring prominently was Kenya National Police DT Sacco, which won 5 trophies at the 2022 International co-operatives day or Ushirika day.
The Sacco won the trophy for Best Sacco in Credit Management in Kenya, 2nd Best Managed Sacco in Kenya, Best Managed Deposit-Taking Sacco in the country, and 3rd Best Sacco in Risk Management in Kenya.
Also clinching top awards was Co-operative Bank Non-Withdrawable DT Sacco, which emerged at the top among Non-Withdrawable DT Saccos that have been brought under the supervision of SASRA.
During the 2022 Annual Ushirika Awards, 99 Saccos participated out of 470 invited and 3 Housing and Investment Co-operative Societies and 3 Marketing Co-operatives.
Participating Co-op Societies are usually awarded based on their functions (Saccos, Housing and Investment Co-ops, Marketing Societies), sector (employer, agriculture, or community-based), and the size of their balance sheets.
The National Ushirika Day Celebration Council usually invites all co-operative societies to a leaders meeting to deliberate on the modalities of adjudication and review the performance of co-operatives for the previous year.
All co-operative societies usually join this adjudication process in April and May each year.
The outcome of this process is usually announced during the Ushirika Day celebrations on the first Saturday of July.
The Ushirika Awards aim to raise the level of awareness among co-op societies.
The event looks at how the co-operative movement has managed to resolve problems cited by the UN and also strengthen the bond between the movement and other international partners and actors.
