German Astul Mejía Mejía was born on November 6, 1958, in Goascorán, Valle, Honduras. He was the seventh of Cesar Mejía and María Mejía’s ten children. He studied hard to become a teacher with the support of his parents and taught for more than three decades, providing for his wife and five children.
Continuing with his dedication to serving others, he embarked on a new path in 1989, joining the Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Educadores de Honduras Limitada (COACEHL), a savings and credit education cooperative. He had always been passionate about cooperatives, and became a member of its governing bodies. Through this role, he brought prominence to the cooperative, positioning it as a leading figure in Honduran cooperativism and a national and international benchmark. It went on to make significant achievements in the response to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes Eta and Iota.
German Astul Mejía aspires to become a member of the ICA Board of Directors with the aim of deepening the democratisation of cooperative education – a key element of cooperativising Honduras and the rest of the world – and ensuring governments worldwide give cooperativism the prominence it truly deserves. After all, the movement is key to people’s economic, productive, social, cultural and environmental development.
Through the ICA, German Astul Mejía hopes to influence real global cooperativisation and, at the same time, promote the International Cooperative Alliance and its global principles.
