By Meshack Ngangi
Tanzania’s Western Zone Tobacco Growers Co-operative Union (WETCU) delegation of Board Members led by Hamza Rajabu Kitunga today paid a courtesy visit to The Co-operative University of Kenya (CUK) on their benchmarking trip within the Ministry of Co-operatives and MSMEs Development.
The WETCU team was accompanied by Mr. Henry Mwangi and Ibrahim Gichuki, officials from the Ministry’s State Department of Co-operatives.
The Institute of Co-operative Development Director, Prof. Wycliffe Oboka, and the Agri and Co-operative Training and Consultancy Services Ltd. (ATC) representative, Dr. Moses Gweyi, attended the welcoming event.
The University management, led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kamau Ngamau, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic, Co-operative Development, Research, and Innovation, Prof. Isaac Nyamongo, hosted the WETCU delegation of co-operators and discussed the areas of collaboration between the two organizations.
The discourse for the day was grounded on the necessity of realizing Principle 6 of the Co-operatives, which is cooperation among co-operatives.
The Co-operative University of Kenya has underscored its role in revolutionalising and sustaining Kenya’s co-operative movement through quality education, training, research, and innovation and empowering communities through outreach for socio-economic transformation.
“The University through the Kenya Rural Transformation Centres Digital Platform (KRTCDP), a project funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), has made efforts to bolster farmer co-operatives in Nakuru, Narok, and Baringo counties, which represents the first phase of the project’s implementation,” Prof. Isaac Nyamongo.
The attainment of the KRTCDP project deliverables targets strategic value chains of maize, Irish potatoes, and dairy, which are critical to the economic empowerment of the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
These efforts represent the crucial concern for the University’s collaboration with partners in the co-operative movement, especially the Ministry of Co-operatives and MSMEs Development, financial institutions, and international bodies, including the United States Overseas Co-operative Development Council (OCDC), in realizing our mission.
Prof. Oboka, the Director of the Institute of Co-operative Development (ICD), remarked on the crucial role the University continues to play through his institute’s programs.
The ICD’s short courses are intended to retool, update, and upgrade the knowledge and skill endowment of the officers and board members, and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) serving the co-operative sectors in the national government, devolved/county governments and Savings and Credit Co-operative entities.
Dr. Moses Gweyi, the ATC’s representative and a lecturer in the School of Co-operative and Community Development (SCCD), expressed the pivotal role research has played in aiding the growth and development of Kenya’s co-operative sector.
This research function of ATC can be owed to the seamless functioning of the University’s consultancy arm, the Agri and Co-operative Training and Consultancy Services Ltd. (ATC).
Since its establishment in July 2004, the ATC has been an active player in Kenya’s and regional private sector development in agriculture by providing quality training and consultancy services in agribusiness, co-operative rural development, and associated sectors of the economy.
