My.COOP is a training package and programme on the management of agricultural cooperatives. It was designed for existing and potential managers of agricultural cooperatives, and for members involved in managerial tasks, to help them improve the management of their cooperatives and better cater for member satisfaction, business opportunities and social concerns. When managed well, agricultural cooperatives advance food security, sustainable use of natural resources, the elimination of child labour and inclusive employment creation. My.COOP is delivered by certified trainers; this programme is how you become one.
This Training of Trainers prepares you to deliver the My.COOP package yourself. Over 80 hours across three phases — self-guided learning, live webinars with microteaching, and coached delivery of your own workshop — you build both the content mastery and the facilitation skills needed to run participatory My.COOP training in your own context. Successful completion leads to an ILO Certificate of "My.COOP Trainer".
My.COOP is the result of a collaborative effort involving cooperative development agencies, cooperative colleges and universities, cooperative and producer organizations, knowledge institutes and UN agencies. Initiated by the ILO Cooperative Facility for Africa and the ILO's Cooperative Branch, the partnership involves Agriterra, FAO, the International Training Centre of the ILO, the Royal Tropical Institute and Wageningen University & Research, among others.
This Training of Trainers is aimed at people who will deliver My.COOP training to others:
Participants are expected to be already familiar with the operations and challenges of agricultural cooperatives. This programme does not teach cooperative management — it prepares you to train others in it, using the My.COOP package.
It is therefore not designed for managers or board members seeking to strengthen their own cooperative, nor for people setting up a cooperative for the first time.
Places are limited. Applicants are selected on qualifications and on a first-come, first-served basis.
The My.COOP package consists of 4 modules:
The My.COOP distance learning Training of Trainers (TOT) programme assumes that its participants are already familiar with the operations and challenges of agricultural cooperatives. The objective of the distance learning programme is thus NOT to train professionals who want to acquire knowledge regarding cooperatives. The TOT will rather allow cooperative experts to acquire the necessary competencies to design and deliver an interactive and participatory face-to-face training using the My.COOP training modules (focus on training methods).
After having completed the Training of Trainers, participants will be able to:
The ToT requires an overall commitment of 80 hours of active study and participation, spread over three phases:
Successful participation in Phases 1 and 2 results in a Certificate of Participation from the International Training Centre of the ILO. Successful completion of Phase 3 results in an ILO Certificate of "My.COOP Trainer".