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LSCU & Affiliates Senior Vice President of Association Services Jared Ross and CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan shared best practices and key principles in lobbying during the World Council of Credit Union’s Lobbying and Governmental Affairs Workshop on May 21 and 22 in San José, Costa Rica. Lobbying is a process, not an event. This was a key message for the 98 credit union executives and board members learning successful strategies for engaging with policymakers and developing their own grassroots advocacy campaigns.
“World Council promotes positive change by leveraging the knowledge of our credit union family and connecting our members in the United States with those in Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Victor Corro, World Council vice president of member services. “Jared and Ryan demonstrated that elected officials who understand the credit union industry are much more likely to support our mission. Credit unions around the world must actively engage in advocacy to protect the interests of their members.”
Participants witnessed the importance of speaking with one voice by understanding and agreeing on their goals, roles and the process by which they will lobby policymakers.
“Sharing my experiences in lobbying with credit union officials from other countries was an enlightening and rewarding experience. It was so encouraging to see participants recognize the opportunity to apply our experiences and enact meaningful change in their own credit union systems,” Ross said.
The international delegation exchanged perspectives and challenges from their credit union movements in Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and St. Kitts.
