Cooperatives with more technological tools

The first regional online training program was launched

Erick Murillo
La República
San Jose, Costa Rica

The Educoop project, the first regional online training program for cooperatives, will be launched tomorrow by the National Cooperative Movement together with Aura Interactiva. The first beneficiaries will be high school teachers and students linked to Costa Rican cooperatives.

In 2005, the Center on Cooperative Studies and Training (CENECOOP R.L.) embarked on eLearning or electronic training by developing a program to train school students on the cooperative movement.

The coverage in the first 18 months was 60.000 schoolchildren, a number that has never been achieved based on presential instructor-assisted training. Based on the first successful experience, Cenecoop started another more ambitious project to improve cooperative competitiveness.

“Educoop has several components; on the one hand, it has a technological platform associated with an Internet portal that allows us to display courses, manage training programs, and give students access to a series of useful learning tools. On the other hand, other eLearning courses have contents based on topics related to effective business management,” pointed out Stéfano Arias, CENECOOP Executive Director.

According to Randolf Kissling, Aura Interactiva CEO, “cooperatives should choose mechanisms to become more competitive and take advantage of open markets. Educoop is a key tool to provide cooperatives, in spite of their size and approach, with knowledge to manage efficiently and thrive, not only in Costa Rica but also in the rest of the hemisphere. The cooperative movement is taking a qualitative leap in education and technology based on this initiative.”

Educoop courses will be free for Costa Rican cooperatives, but not for CENECOOP counterpart institutions in other countries in the region.

“Educoop offers many benefits to our sector and to small and medium enterprises because we offer content of great significance for business competitiveness, materials prepared by top notch professionals such as Luis Garita, former rector of University of Costa Rica. We have tutors who have worked for CENECOOP in the presential courses and are now trained to work on this new “virtual” approach,” pointed out Arias.