Focus on Uganda Part 3: Co-operative values and principles at Uganda Co-operative College

Uganda Co-operative College has a rural setting, about 60 kilometers from the nearest town of Masindi, in the north west of Uganda. It can be found at the end of a bumpy road surrounded by fields of crops, including maize and sugar cane. Despite its modest surroundings and some dilapidated facilities, the College houses 350 students, all pursuing co-operative related diplomas combining ideas on business, micro finance or co-operative management. This makes it one of the central providers of education on co-operatives, particularly for youth in Uganda.

The College was established in 1954, and was managed by the co-operative movement in Uganda. It primarily provided in-service training to members of co-operatives. Since then, the ups and downs of the College have to some extent reflected the rise and fall and changes to the co-operative movement in Uganda. The Ministry of Education and Sports took control of the College in 1998 and turned it into a tertiary institution providing diplomas – this in part was due to the massively decreased number of co-operatives and a reduced demand from members for training on co-operatives.

Today, the College focuses on offering tertiary education in the form of diplomas to young people leaving school, with students generally being between the ages of 19-35 (although the average age is 23-24 years old). And whilst a stroll around the college gives you a sense that it lacks facilities, funding and staffing, with some classes having over 100 students, when you meet and talk to the students you begin to realise the quality of the education that is taking place there.

Students are taught about the technical skills that they need to run a co-operative, such as accountancy and marketing. They also learn about the history of co-operatives in Uganda, what a co-operative is, how its structure works, how it should be governed and the current debates and ideas in the co-operative arena.

This is effectively supported by an internship with a co-operative or related organisation, where students spend one term getting work experience and contributing their knowledge to different organisations. Overall this gives students a holistic and practical foundation from which to set up their own co-operative or join an existing co-operative. However, the ‘real’ education starts when they learn about and engage with what it is to co-operate and to be a co-operator, and this is under-pinned by the principles and values of co-operatives.

This style of education means the students are developing as individuals as well as developing technical skills. They talk about how their views on society have changed the need to care for their community and work with others to achieve what they aim for in life. They are changed by their time at the college, and this type of personal development transcends the diploma that they get when they graduate – it affects how they live their lives, how they do their jobs and how they view society.

It produces a group of young professionals that are a human resource for the co-operative sector in Uganda. They are trained co-operators who understand how co-operatives have changed in Uganda, are committed to developing and supporting grass roots co-operatives, able to train other members in the core principles of co-operatives and ready to sensitise the public at large to the potential of co-operatives.

However, many of the students do not go onto work for co-operatives. Some aspire to work for co-operatives but the majority want to do other things. They want to go on to further education (looking to upgrade their diploma to a degree), or work as an accountant or for the government. Despite their education, they do not necessarily see the co-operative sector or the setting up of a co-operative as a viable business. This is due in part to the history of co-operatives in Uganda and their reduction but is also due to lack of demand for their services from the co-operative sector.

The potential of these young people is not yet recognised by key co-operative stakeholders in Uganda. BUT, with the ever increasing revival of co-operatives, especially grass roots and primary co-operatives in the country, they have a pivotal role to play.