MINDSET FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT


From a local co-op, it has evolved into a global cooperative training and development center with more than 227 member co-ops nationwide.

VICTO National is the abridged name of VICTO National Cooperative Federation and Development Center. Its beginnings can be traced to the work of the Scarboro Missionaries in Southern Leyte in the 70’s. The Canadian priests were familiar with the Antigonish cooperative model having learned it from the Coady Institute of the St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia in the eastern coast of Canada.​



When the Scarboros set foot in Hinundayan, Southern Leyte 42 years ago, they were appalled by widespread poverty. Realizing that their spiritual mission cannot be achieved without attending to the temporal needs of the people, they set up the parish program, “Saving Souls the Credit Union Way.”



The parish program is the seed of VICTO National. From a local co-op, it has evolved into global cooperative training and development center with more than 227 direct and active co-op affiliates. Its aggregate assets is upwards of PHP 9 Billion and counts at least 500,000 individual members comprising of farmers, fishermen, students, housewives, professional, entrepreneurs, vendors and indigenous peoples.

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Such diversity in membership disperses the benefits of cooperation to practically the whole gamut of society, making the federation an important catalyst for social change and economic reform in the Philippines.