Farida Haryani
Executive Director, Pengembangan Aktivitas Sosial Ekonomi Aceh (PASKA)
Congratulations on the 75th anniversary of CDF Canada. PASKA Aceh is grateful for the support received from CCA Canada in 2007, notably through Lydia Makuch Phillips and Henny Buftheim. Through their leadership and guidance, PASKA Aceh successfully obtained funds for the Acehnese, affected by the conflict and tsunami.
We began by forming a co-operative union (Koperasi) in the Pidie region with only 20 members. Now it has at least 3000 members in 15 villages, with savings of Rp 250,000,000 circulated by the union.
CDF Canada continued its support of PASKA Aceh, by successfully securing funding from IDFF, a World Bank-funded project, despite significant competition from hundreds of organizations worldwide. As a result, we are the only CSO that still continues to serve the community where others have collapsed. I was also proudly awarded the Human Rights Defender (Women) in 2021.
We have created a secondary co-operative union called “Kopomas Aceh” to supervise product distribution to the market. We will continue to require CDF Canada’s support and hope this anniversary further solidifies your long-term collaboration with the Aceh community.