Cebuana youth leader wins Joe Biden Awards
Justine Lynn Canda Limocon – a resident of Lamac, Pinamungajan in Cebu – received the prestigious Joe Biden Award for Development Educator of the Year 2017 in a high-end ceremony held at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hotel, Bloomsburry, London.
Limocon, who represented the Philippines, was the only Asian awardee. Other winners included Paul Dawson of Australia, Carla Decker of the Caribbean Islands, and Christina Stoneman of Wales.
Limocon heads the business development center of Lamac Multipurpose Cooperative and is one of the active leaders of her town.
The Biden Awards acknowledges the magnificent achievements of individual development educators working on a variety of projects to improve the lives and opportunities of the lessfortunate people in their countries.
Aside from the Biden, Limocon also brought home the Best Film Production – Edward Filene Credit Union Award for Performance Excellence for her engaging short film highlighting the numerous and inspirational activities engaged in by her credit union, the Lamac Multipurpose Cooperative.
The Joe Biden Award for Development Educator of the Year and the Edward Filene Credit Union Award for Performance Excellence, together with the Edward Filene Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the Beacon Credit Union of theYear Award are the four major awards given by the United Kingdom Credit Union. The annual ceremony, which gathers the best cooperators from around the world, is dubbed as UK’s Credit Union Oscars.
This year’s ceremonial speaker was Marlene Shiels, OBE FCIBS, I-CUDE, the chief executive officer of the Capital Credit Union Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland.
In September 2016, Limocon won her first international award, the Best Coop Pitch award, during the First International Cooperative Alliance – Asia and the Pacific Coop Youth Summit in Indonesia.
In receiving the awards, Limocon was accompanied by her mother LMPC General ManagerMa.ElenaC.Limocon, LMPC BOD Chairman Delfin Tuquib, and VICTO National Area Manager Konstantin Comeros. —