COL has entered into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank , India, to train its staff in aspects of COL’s Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3F) model. As part of this agreement, on 11-12 January 2021, COL organised an orientation programme for the bank’s senior and mid-level officials to introduce them to the processes and analytics of learning using mobile devices.

The 22 participants included the Chief General Manager as well as district managers. The directorate of training center of the bank facilitated their participation. Training sessions included an overview of L3F achievements in India and in countries of sub-Saharan Africa. A representative of COL’s partner, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, presented details of implementing the mobiMOOC technology in this partnership. COL’s Vice-President Dr V. Balaji joined in as well.

Dr Moses Tenywa, COL Education Specialist, Agriculture and Livelihoods, said: “This partnership adds a new dimension to L3F by bringing the co-operative sector as a stakeholder in informal learning. It will sensitise the officials about the importance of building cognitive social capital as the basis for improved credit management.”