As part of the activities related to the implementation of the National Road 1 (RN1) development project, section Tshikapa-Kamuesha financed by the African Development Bank (ADB), the International Labour Office organised in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a capacity building workshop for the managers of the agricultural sector of Kasai. This activity took the form of a training of trainers on the development tools for (agricultural) cooperatives, which was held in Tshikapa from 12 to 23 December 2022. The project also aims, among other things, to put in place a sustainable mechanism for improving the employability of young people, the economic empowerment of rural communities, including awareness-raising, training, organisation of project beneficiaries and rural animation. The ILO training tools used were those related to cooperative development, namely Think.COOP, Start.COOP, and My.COOP, among others.

Under the facilitation of the international consultant and Master Trainer Mr. Oumar SY, the general objective of this training activity was to equip 20 trainers (including 4 women trainers) from the support structures for the cooperative sector and institutional partners in Kasai with the strategic principles and methodological approaches of the ILO tools for cooperative entrepreneurship, with an emphasis on the knowledge and good practices acquired in the field. More specifically, the participants in this training were selected from among the provincial animators of the structures in charge of agriculture (Provincial Division of Agriculture, Provincial Inspectorate of Agriculture), fisheries and livestock (Provincial Inspectorate of Fisheries and Livestock), rural development (Provincial Division, Community Development Directorate, ...) and NGOs working on food security issues (Association for the Development of Protected Areas, African Initiative for Rural Development, Centre for the Support of Women's Development in Action).

At the end of this training:

• The 20 trainers have acquired knowledge on the Think.COOP, Start.COOP and My.COOP tools and their use, enabling them to deliver training adapted to the DRC context;
• The approach, techniques on the methodology and tools Think.COOP, Start.COOP and My.COOP of the ILO have been assimilated by the trainers; 
• A plan for the coaching of trainers was validated in collaboration with the training participants.

An appointment has been made for coaching for the certification of the 20 participants in February 2023 in Tshikapa.