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Friday, March 29, 2024

PCAAE & BusinessMirror: 5 years on

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FIVE years, 236 column articles, and countless promotional exchanges marked the continuing partnership of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE) and BusinessMirror since signing a memorandum of agreement on June 29, 2016.

While the agreement was founded on promoting each other’s interest in their respective constituencies, the underlying objective was actually beyond this. It was about advocating for and advancing the professionalization of association management and governance in the country, as well as communicating the significant role associations play in society and in national development. Through this column, we are able to educate readers on association management and governance practices and trends, as well as to disseminate the good deeds of associations here.

Many things have happened over the course of five years, especially in the last 16 months, due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Like their business organization counterparts, associations have also experienced a downturn. In terms of associations, the adverse effects were felt in what they do best—providing education, tools and solutions, community support, and peer-to-peer exchanges to their members and stakeholders—as their events were limited, postponed or cancelled, member engagement hampered, and financial resources dwindled, among others.

Despite these challenges, good news also abound. Associations have been resilient by quickly adapting to digitalization, with in-person interaction becoming mostly virtual with good results. They have also shifted readily to remote work and to re-skilling or up-skilling their staff. They also found that partnership and collaboration with other associations and like-minded institutions provided the impetus to do more and better.

Amidst these developments, it was enlightening to note that the PCAAE-BusinessMirror partnership not only continued, but flourished. In particular, this column is now being accessed and read by more people not only here but also abroad, thanks to the digital version that BusinessMirror puts out in its website and via its social media outlets. PCAAE, for its part, posts this column on LinkedIn and on Facebook, aside from including it in its monthly e-newsletter and website.

The PCAAE-BusinessMirror partnership has also gone beyond publications and media mileage. PCAAE members and other stakeholders such as the Tourism Promotions Board, the Philippine International Convention Center, and my organization, and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (PCAAE’s three founding institutions) have also indirectly benefited via public exposure and business opportunity openings.

Currently, PCAAE has three flagship programs: (1) the annual Associations Summit, now on its ninth year; (2) the ANG SUSI (for Associations Nurture National Growth through Social Unity and Sustainability Innovations) Awards that honor associations for their role in nation building; and (3) the Certified Professional Association Executive program, a six-module credentialing course, now with 56 graduates and counting. In addition, PCAAE publishes the IDEAS e-newsletter and the Association World magazine, and has extensive networks globally for knowledge exchange and capacity-building collaboration.

All these would not have been possible without the support of BusinessMirror, the “Associations’ Newspaper.”

The column contributor, Octavio ‘Bobby’ Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific, Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives and President of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations. The purpose of PCAAE—the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the Philippine International Convention Center. E-mail: [email protected]

Read full article on BusinessMirror

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