Women's co-operatives re-activated

The Ministry of Culture (MiCultura) announced that the Agro-Organic cooperatives of Western Panama, "Rescatando Saberes, Tears and Identity in Omar Torrijos District," "Luxury Mola Baby Dresses," "Educando with Cinema and Our History" and "La Red" were the winners of the Marta Matamoros 2021 National Cooperative Competition.

These five clusters have been selected from 19 folders and will be made credit each at B /. 2.000.00 as non-refundable funds for their economic and cultural entrepreneurship proposals.

Referring to the contest and selection of the winning organisations, the Director of Creative Economics of MiCultura, Marú Gálvez and a member of the Evaluation Board noted that the answer was positive. "We received 19 different proposals from all parts of the country. They were mostly about to join a cooperative and the other cooperatives registered with less than 2 years of creation," Gálvez said.

The select associations covered co-operative projects mainly made up of women on sustainable farms, crafts and film and radio projects with good representation of creative and cultural industries, she said.

The evaluating committee was formed by Cecilia Moreno, director of the Research Department of the National Institute for Women (INAMU) and Rigoberto García, General Secretary of the Panamanian Institute of Cooperativism of Panama (IPACOOP).

The first version put forward projects focused or related to the creative economy, a solidarity, circular or community economy with components of food security, environmental sustainability of cultural and creative industries and a gender perspective.

At the call there was representation of the comarcas, Colón, Veraguas, Coclé, Panama West and Panama Center among others.