Budaka cooperative members trained in financial management

BUDAKA -The Uhuru Institute for Social Development[TUI] has trained Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited members on financial management and mindset change to help them grow their cooperative, which is one of the existing few in Budaka district.

The members of the cooperative found in Budaka district were also trained on their roles, bookkeeping, operations of cooperative, members’ rights in the cooperatives, human resource management, resource mobilisation and formation among others.

TUI is a social business providing training, business development support, coaching, mentorship, microfinance, media, and digital services.

The officials from TUI and officials district local governments conducted a two-day training for the cooperative’s members at Naboa town council hall over the weekend.

Leonard Okello, TUI’s Chief Executive, explained that it’s a nationwide exercise aimed at equipping the members with core basic management and leadership skills to help cooperators manage their businesses better.

Okello said TUI is supporting cooperatives through a platform dubbed Coop360 Network where cooperatives are recruited and their members trained.

“We are providing training, coaching, and mentorship to members to promote the Cooperative Identity,” he said.

He added, according to research, if the cooperative members don’t’ follow up on the way they work, designed plans, and business they will collapse.

“They cannot survive. Most of the cooperatives collapsed in the war because the leaders and members didn’t follow the Cooperative Identity. He also called upon the cooperative leaders to embrace Democratic Member Control where cooperatives are controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions, with those serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership.

“The cooperative must be controlled by the members themselves. All major policy decisions are taken and approved by the Annual General Meeting [AGM] but not Chairperson alone,” he said.

“Like here at Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited the Chairperson took the tractor of the cooperative to Kapchorwa without the approval of the AGM… this is wrong,” he said.

He advised them on member economic participation.

“Members should participate in saving for the cooperative to grow. And they should know their rights and ask for accountability from the executive members,” he said.

He asked Members of  Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited to stop in-fighting.

Okello said Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited must consider reorganising its leadership structure if is to become a role model in Budaka district.

He said the cooperative had governance problems.

“We are training the members of Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited to understand that the most important role of cooperatives is based on the attitudes, and, the commitment of members. The characters of the cooperatives depend on the members. If the members are thieves. The cooperative will be a thief. A cooperative is member-driven,” Okello said.

He urged members of the cooperative to understand their roles and responsibilities if the cooperative is to grow, especially through saving.

“They are fighting because of external money. Action-Aid Uganda gave them a rice milling machine and government gave them a tractor. They forgot their responsibilities as members, which should be saving, and instead started fighting over money,” he said.

Okello further encouraged the cooperatives in the country to keep records well.

“You cannot run a cooperative without records. We are training one cooperative from each district in the country. Let People join cooperatives and start saving and buying more shares,” he said.

The TUI CEO asked the members to follow the seven Principles of the cooperatives includes Open and Voluntary Membership, Democratic Member Control, Members’ Economic Participation. Others includes, Autonomy and Independence, Education, Training, and Information, Cooperation Among Cooperatives, and Concern for Community.

He said they are training one cooperative at least per district to become a model cooperative that others can learn from.

According to Okello, most cooperatives are collapsing because members don’t know their roles.

Jimmy Mugwe, a member of Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society said the current leadership should leave office, saying their term of office ended a long time ago.

“The leadership is incompetent and corrupt. We want our cooperative revamped. Under the poor leadership, the cooperative is collapsing,” Mugwe said.

The members who turned up for the training noted that they are getting challenges in the cooperative.

Micheal Sikeityo, the Chairperson Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society Limited, said the cooperative which has 202 members started as a small group.

“We got some funds from Action-Aid Uganda and we bought the grinding machine and also government gave us a tractor. We used part of our savings to buy the plot,” Sikeityo said.

He said each member contribute Shs 10,000 as membership fee.

He expressed concern that some members want the cooperative to die because of their own reasons.

“After getting the tractor we agreed to hire 30 acres of land for farming in Ngenge Sub-county, Kween district to grow maize and beans. We planted maize and beans but the drought was too much and we lost,” he said.

He, however, said they have not had an AGM  due to infighting among the members and executive leaders.

“Whenever we call for the AGM, members don’t turn up. This has affected the smooth running of the  cooperative,” he said.

He further commended TUI for training the cooperative’s members.

“Uhuru has mobilised members to come together and this will help us to solve our conflicts after the training. They have played a big role in bringing us together. We need to come together and fight poverty among ourselves,” he said.

The cooperative’s chairperson said the term of the executive members expired and demanded for a fresh election

Philistius Namugungo, town clerk Naboa town council, Budaka district said TUI is impacting on the cooperative members.

“This training will help us to solve our differences and reconcile for the betterment of our lives. Use the knowledge you got from this training to channel it into productive activities such as farming, “she said.

She pleaded with the members not to kill the cooperative.

Joseph Kalyebi, Butebo district commercial officer, asked the local government leaders to come in and solve the conflicts in the cooperative.

“The executive members of the cooperative have conflicts and there is a need to investigate the collapse of the cooperative. This cooperative is collapsing if local governments don’t come in, ”he said.

He said the cooperative has structures, tractor, and milling machine which can help them change their livelihoods.

He said the members stopped saving a long time ago and yet they need to borrow money.

Naboa Multi-purpose Cooperative Society was established in 2019, and is one of the biggest in Budaka district. The main object of the society is to promote the saving habits of the members and to grant advances to them for useful purposes with an aim of improving the living standard of the members.

https://thecooperator.news/trainings-key-to-growth-cooperatives-boss/

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