BACKGROUND:
Uganda Co-operative College is the only Institution offering Co-operative development and management related studies in the country. It started at Nzamizi in 1954, transferred to Bukalasa in 1963 and moved to the present campus – Kigumba in 1974.
LOCATION:
The college’s main campus is at Kigumba
in Kigumba sub-county, Kiryandongo District, Western Uganda, 200km on Kampala – Gulu highway. The college has another campus at Tororo
DFI - in Tororo District, Eastern Uganda.
The college has regional centres in Arua, Gulu, Mbale, Mbarara, Kabale, Hoima and at Kampala, Maganjo (UCSCU)
STATUS AND SET-UP:
Uganda Co-operative College is a Tertiary Institution owned and funded by the Government of Uganda. It has a Governing Council appointed by the Minister of Education and Sports. The head of the Institution is the Principal.
VISION:
The College’s Vision is “To be a centre for excellence in co-operative and private sector development training”.
MISSION:
To contribute to the efficient management, sustainable development of the co- operative movement and the private sector by providing skilled manpower, enlightened membership through research, education and training”.
LFC Programme Design.
The LFC programme is designed to be offered in four weeks staggered in a 5-day ‘module’, code – named “Arena”. The four ‘Arenas’ make p the complete course “Leadership For Change in Cooperative” (LFC)
The LFC Programme is intended to systematically develop capacities of cooperative leaders and individual members of member-based organizations in:
1. Visionary Thinking and Strategic
Planning. Arena I
2. Personal Growth. (Arena II)
3. Entrepreneurial Developme (Arena III)
4. Managing Change and Organizational
Development (OD). (Arena IV).
The subject matter (content) for the development of capacities under each arena is put together along with the adult education methods and techniques for delivering it. The contents for each Arena is portioned into activities (sessions) that would be covered in five days.
What Arena I is all about
This arena covers Visionary Leadership and Strategic Planning and its intended to:
- Develop new skills and mindsets that help leaders to think outside the box.
- Enable leaders and others clarify their own individual visions and missions with a view to inspiring others do the same.
- Enable leaders use strategic thinking questions in mapping out strategic directions for themselves as individuals and for their organizations.
What Arena II is all about
This arena is on Personal growth (self- confidence building). The journey of
leadership is first taking a look at oneself
and building the necessary self-confidence to be able to take on self, a team and then an organization. Through introspective and interactive methodologies, it is aimed at:
- To strengthen the various mental abilities needed for thinking creatively.
- Provide participants with tools for self analysis, introspection and learning.
- Foster mastery in the use of Transactional Analysis (TA) and giving and receiving feedback using the JOHARI window model. through exercises
Through simulation exercises and role plays, this arena ensures mastery of the concepts and demonstrates how they can be leveraged to enhance participants’ self-confidence and capabilities for personal growth.
What Arena III is all about
This arena is on Entrepreneurship Development it dispels the myth that entrepreneurship is only to do with business by also examining other types including social entrepreneurship. It clarifies the differences between business skills and an entrepreneurial mindset and continues to discuss factors that trigger entrepreneurship. The arena on entrepreneurship development is intended to:
- Define entrepreneurship in its broadest terms.
- Assist participants assess their personal entrepreneurial competences and readiness.
- Generate individual business ideas using a template showing four possible sources
- Turn any one of the generated ideas into a business plan complete with a cash flow statement, statement of comprehensive income (profit and loss), balance sheet and implementation strategies.
What Arena IV is all about
This is Arena on ‘managing change’ discusses the various aspects of change including man as a victim and cause of
change, the pervasiveness and paradoxical nature of change as well as the speed of change. Participants are availed with opportunities to identify drivers of change, signals of change and the impact of various
changes on individual clients and on their
organizations.
The module underscores how the changes people undergo as individuals and theirgrowth needs are, in many ways, similar to those through which organizations go giving rise to the need for using the Human Body Organization (HBO) as a benchmark for Organizational Development (OD).
The overall aims of this arena are to:
- Explore the complex nature of change, its drivers, signals, speed and impact on individuals, organizations and society.
- Equip cooperative leaders and managers with the necessary tools for helping them cope efficiently and effectively with challenges imposed by change.
- Benchmark OD interventions against Human Body Organization principles
Training Methodology
The strength and usefulness of the LFC training has been and continues to be in the well-tested insights and methodologies for ‘embedded learning’ i.e. ‘learn while doing’ as opposed to ‘learn then do’. Use of lecturettes, case studies, group work, role plays, demonstrations, brainstorming, discussions, structured exercises, inter- arena assignments and testimonies have been and ought to continue to be the hallmarks of the training methodologies used in delivering the programme content.