By Hema Yadav, Director, Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Co-operative Management (VAMNICOM)
Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Co-operative Management (VAMNICOM) is a premier National Institute for Cooperative Management in India that fosters the 5th Principle: Education, Training and Information of Cooperatives through training and education programmes. Understanding that the cooperative business requires specific education and training for those who wish to operate it, VANICOM has taken a lead in designing and delivering need-based training. VAMNICOM, through its programmes, aims to enhance the knowledge, skills, and attitude of cooperative members and personnel to enable them to accomplish their jobs, motivate the workers, build effective organizations and strengthen the capabilities of human resources in cooperatives.
Cooperative Training
Training activities are designed to develop the know-how and skills that create functional ability, productivity and proficiency. The Institute organizes comprehensive programmes for member’s involvement and empowerment, training of staff and members of boards of directors, training of youth for their engagement in the cooperative sector. The training programmes delivered include,
Leadership Development Programmes - The Leadership Development Program is designed for the career progression of the executive rank officers in cooperative societies.
Management Development Programmes - VAMNICOM’s Centre for training and development programmes conducts more than 100 short-duration Executive/ Management Development Programmes for Senior Officials and non-officials of the cooperative sector. Orientation training programmes for the Chairpersons and Managing Directors of National level Cooperative Organizations like the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), Indian Farmers Fertilizer Co-operative Limited (IFFCO), other Cooperative Institutions on leadership and decision making.
Skill Development Programmes- Focused on capacity building and skill development in governance, management, entrepreneurship, business planning, human resource development, information technology and management. The personnel from cooperative sectors such as credit, banking, dairy, FPO, sugar, fishery etc are regularly trained.
During April 2019-Dec 2020, VAMNICOM organized 193 training programmes with 6,973 participants including long-term and short term courses, seminars and workshops.
After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, VAMNICOM being the apex institution for cooperative training in the country, took several steps to reach out to the cooperative societies and shifted to the online modes of training.
Alignment with Regulations and Reforms
Over time, the cooperative and banking sectors in India have witnessed reforms and regulations. The cooperative training programmes have been aligned to address the requirement of training by the personnel to understand reforms and enable them to work in tune with the policy changes. The banking reforms such as the focus on FPO, SHGs, Financial Inclusions, Compliance to GST, FINTECH, Entrepreneurship and Innovations are the changes that are being addressed by VAMNICOM through its various programmes planned in 2021-2022.
Training programs planned from April 2021- Mar 2022
Education Activities
ICA states that education means engaging the minds of members, elected leaders, managers and employees to comprehend fully the complexity and richness of cooperative thought and action. In this direction, VAMNICOM runs two education programmes.
Post Graduate Diploma in Co-operative Business Management (PGDCBM) – It is a core programme being conducted from 1967-68. Its mandate is to train the middle and senior level functionaries of cooperatives on management The program exposes the participants to field level issues, challenges, solutions and best practices.
Post Graduate Diploma Management-Agribusiness Management (PGDMABM) – It is a two-year programme, approved by the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi and is being conducted since 1993. The programme is recognised as equivalent to MBA Degree by the Association of India Universities, New Delhi since 2001 and has been accredited by the National Board of Accreditation, New Delhi. It nurtures the young students to enable them to shoulder the managerial responsibilities in Cooperative societies.
Consultancy and Advisory Services
The institute offers consultancy services both at the State and National levels, viz recruitment of personnel for cooperatives, information technology support through the formulation of IT & Cyber Security Policy, the conduct of system audit, support to computerize cooperative organizations.
Research and Publications
VAMNICOM through its “Centre for Research and Publication” formulates policies to nurture quality research culture and facilitate research endeavours. The insights from research enable the institute to offer policy support and thereafter effective training. The Institute publishes a quarterly journal named Cooperative Perspective, a referred journal that invites articles, case studies and book reviews in different areas of co-operatives.
Centre for Gender Studies
The centre organizes capacity building activities catering to women cooperatives, women collectives like self-help groups and cooperative banks. The thematic areas include financial inclusion models and best practices, financial literacy, adoption of technology, women micro-entrepreneurship development, financial management and business development for women collectives.
Centre for Entrepreneurship Development
The centre aims at providing opportunities to the youth to gain skills and start an entrepreneurial activity in the agribusiness sector and develop the entrepreneurial capability among the members of the cooperative sector.
Collaboration and Partnership
The institute collaborates with National and International Cooperative Organizations and State Universities. VAMNICOM has signed MOU with National Forensic Sciences University, Gujarat in India. International collaboration includes MOU with National Co-operative College, Mauritius, Agriculture Development Bank Ltd., Nepal, National Institute of Cooperative Development, Sri Lanka, Cooperative League of Thailand, Cooperative College of Malaysia and The Cooperative College, Manchester, U.K. etc.
Centre for International Cooperation in Agriculture and Agricultural Banking (CICTAB)
CICTAB administers and manages activities to promote international cooperation for training in agricultural banking and facilitates the exchange of experiences, success stories and information on national systems of finance and banking for agriculture and rural development with special reference to the countries of the SAARC region.
VAMNICOM plans to continue its work with the same effectiveness and reach enviable heights in future. With a separate Ministry of Cooperation being formed in India, the responsibilities and expectations from VAMNICOM are manifold. The institute is gearing up for the same and envisions reaching out to the 3 million cooperatives worldwide and serve 8 lakh cooperatives in India.
