Work with Co-operative Colleges in Africa

Work with co-operative colleges in Africa

Supporting co-operative education
In a number of countries, where there is currently no co-operative college, we have been asked to advise on how to set up a college or national system for co-operative education.
In Rwanda, we led a feasibility study, at the request of the government, on how a college could be established. In the province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, where the government has decided to establish a Co-operative Academy to support very small grassroots co-operatives in one of the poorest parts of the country, we’ve been invited to make proposals on how the Academy could be set up.
In Malawi, the Department of Co-operatives, in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, has asked for support to review the current arrangements for co-operative education.

Several decades ago, during British colonial rule and/or in the early years of independence, co-operative colleges and training centres were established. The majority of these still exist.

We are currently working with colleges in Botswana, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

In 2008/9, we worked with the colleges to undertake a strategic review of their governments, staffing, resources curriculum and teaching methods. Specialised training in active learning methods was made available in two sub regional workshops.

In 2010, we are helping one group of colleges to improve their capacity to undertake research and a second group of colleges to improve how they teach entrepreneurship and innovation.

This work with colleges is undertaken as part of the International Labour Organisation’s COOPAfrica programme, which is funded by the Department for International Development.