FUNDOPO General Meeting

In April 2021, the members of FUNDOPO were able to hold their long-awaited General Meeting. As a result of the pandemic, no AGM took place in 2020. This meant that important decisions could not be made, which had an increasingly negative impact on day-to-day business. Finally, the lean period was over and the new Director of FUNDOPO and the members of the Board of Directors organised a successful part-virtual and part-physical meeting of the members.

With the agreement of the regional health authorities, large video-conferencing installations were rented at three locations and an effective protection concept was implemented to ensure that members could observe the necessary social distancing. Food and drinks were laid on for members as soon as they arrived, as some of them had had to get up at 2 a.m. to be able to attend the AGM on time.

The meeting began with a presentation of the financial statements and a summary of the past year. The use of the future Fairtrade premiums was then discussed and approved by the members. One of the decisions the cooperative took was to buy about 12 hectares of land to build a new tree nursery. In addition, budgets were set aside for community projects, (drinking water, production and quality-related training, health, social aid, etc.) although at this stage, not every detail was worked out.

The members were happy to see their colleagues in other regions via live video link. The meeting closed with a raffle of tools for cocoa production, and food and drinks were served again before members set out on what for some of them was a very long journey. Thanks to the success of the General Meeting, FUNDOPO will be able to continue its targeted work for the members and their families.