the Co-Op

SUEKE ACEH COOP

Koperasi Wanita Kerajinan Seuke Aceh is a cooperative whose members are women pandan artisans. This cooperative was formed through a joint program between the Pekerti Foundation and Save The Children, called the Pidie Pandan Women’s Empowerment. This program was divided into two stages, first stage held for 9 months, started on June 2007 and ended on March 2008. The second stage it will run for 6 months, starting in May and ending in October 2008.

Before forming as a co-op, the 323 beneficiaries of the program were distributed into 13 groups, classified based on the proximity of their houses. As planned in the Pidie Pandan Women’s Empowerment Program, these 13 groups would then form one co-op. As agreed together, the co-op was named “KOPWANKRA SUEKE ACEH” (Women artisan co-op, Sueke Aceh). The co-op has been legally registered to the co-operatives department since February 28th 2008, and the board and supervisor structure are:

  1. Dewi Novita - Head of coops
  2. Faridah Ariani - Secretary
  3. Nurul Hayati - Treasury
  4. Murniati - Head of supervisory board
  5. Nurul Khamsiah - Member of supervisory board
  6. Lasmawati - Member of supervisory board

The coop has vission and mission as follows :

VISION:
To be a corporation which is successful, democratic and professionally managed for the prosperity of members and the reputation of Pidie Jaya.

MISSION:

  1. Improving the business skills and professionalism of the members and community through education, training, assistance and empowerment of member groups.
  2. Improving the members’ prosperity through financial services, raw material and production tools supply, and collective production and marketing.
  3. Improving the business professionalism and strengthen through cooperation among cooperatives and other corporations.

MEMBERS

KOPWANKRA SEUKE ACEH has 200 members. All of them are women who are spread over 3 villages. There are about 200 member candidates spread over 8 villages who will join the co-op. The members of the co-op are divided into small groups that consist of 20 to30 people. The members already have technical skills and training in development, marketing, and sales.

THE SHOP

The Shop is a place to display products that can be looked at,bought and ordered by customers at any time. The shop is both a marketing tool for the Pandan co-operative and as extra sales revenue. The shop not only displays pandan products but also non-Pandan products, such as some handicraft products from producers across Indonesia. The non-Pandan products continue to be strong sellers and help to attract customers to the co-operative shop.
The co-operative has sold, reordered and now is wholesaling pandan products to other shops in Banda Aceh and Bireun. With the opening of the shop and producer display area, sales to the general public began and so too, the income generation for making the program sustainable.