Background
The role of cooperatives has been clearly identified and quite high in the agricultural sector. The history of many developed countries shows that cooperatives have been the best tools for the economic development in various sectors in general and agricultural sector in particular. In countries like Ethiopia where a large proportion of the population lives in low socioeconomic brackets and in a situation where meager resources are only sparsely situated, cooperatives provide an opportunity to organize scattered resources and mobilize them for overall development.
These days, there is an interesting tendency to see well organized, managed and successful cooperatives at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. In this aspect, the role of qualified and competent human resource in the field of cooperatives is undoubtedly critical and imperative. In order to have more vibrant cooperative enterprises in the country that can support the cooperative development initiatives and transform this sector, producing quality cooperative professionals produced by higher institutions remains mandatory. Therefore, to achieve this macro objective, education and training with well planned, critically analyzed and designed module is of paramount importance. It is cognizant of this hard fact that training students in this field of study became a crucial issue.
Earlier, during the transformation of the former agricultural center into a college level, cooperative management is given as a supportive course under the Department of Basic Science. Lately, however, efforts have been exerted to launch the department based on the needs and demands to train students with critical knowledge and understanding regarding cooperative organization and management and accounting. These days, the department is one of the seven departments in Kombolcha Agricultural College engaged in training, research and community service on the area of Cooperative Organization and Management. The objective of this department is to become a highly efficient, dynamic and competitive center for cooperatives education, research and development. Besides, it is aimed at promoting, through its research, consultancy, training and educational activities, the continual growth of the cooperative movement as an effective, locally-owned and democratically-controlled sector in an economy, designed to address the urgent needs and problems of the community.
Programs in the Cooperative Organization and Management
The department of Cooperative Organization, Management and Accounting is currently engaged in training prospective trainees in two modes of trainings (degree and level based) and two modes of admission (regular and extension) programs. Accordingly,
