"Development Ladder Assessment (DLA) Team" of six (6) people

Be a part of an exciting pilot project!

CCA is piloting a "Development Ladder Assessment (DLA) Team" of six (6) people who will be trained in the facilitation and administration of a holistic co-operative assessment tool, the DLA. In this initial phase, CCA will train and send six (6) volunteers overseas to implement the tool with our partner organization in Uganda, the Uganda Co-operative Alliance (UCA).   

Who: 6 (six) Canadian co-operative governance and finance experts, with strong facilitation skills

Where: Ottawa and Uganda, then up to ten volunteer days on the evaluation of the pilot from home 

Your Commitment:  

Training in Ottawa 1 week early September - Mid October, based on applicants availability  

Two (2) to three (3) weeks in Uganda, immediately after training

Up to ten (10) days of pilot program evaluation and report-writing over six (6) months 

We are also recruiting for a Lead DLA Trainer to work with CCA in the development of the Ottawa DLA training, and help to facilitate training of international partner staff in the DLA. If this pilot program extends, the Lead DLA Trainer would be equipped to train future DLA Team members in Canada.  The additional commitment for this pilot year would be 3 volunteers’ days in September 2012, via distance support.  

Application Process:  Please submit a CV and letter of interest to sarah.feldberg@coopscanada.coop by May 24, 2012.  You letter of interest should specifically outline your experience in facilitation, governance and financial management. Please specify which option you are available for and limit your letter to 2 pages. Selection will be complete by June 8, 2012. Only suitable applicants will be contacted for an interview.   

*This is a voluntary assignment. All related costs including airfare, ground transport, and a meal/incidental allowance will be covered by CCA.  For more information contact Volunteer Coordinator, Sarah Feldberg.    

CCA believes that stronger co-ops are better able to serve their members, and in turn their communities.  The DLA assesses the strengths of a co-operative and identifies areas for improvement.  Over the next few years, CCA is aiming to implement the use of this holistic co-operative assessment tool throughout all of our overseas projects.

The DLA is a participatory, capacity building assessment tool for co-operatives. It has 4 components - (i) vision, (ii) governance and member engagement, (iii) management capacity and business development, (iv) financial management. The DLA provides a standard of co-operative development against which a co-operative enterprise can measure itself as it seeks to build and strengthen its capacity and performance. The DLA has been proven as a strong development tool for co-operatives as it acts as needs assessment tool, a planning and management tool, a monitoring tool and a learning tool to improve governance and management of co-operatives.  

To see the full DLA tool, click here

Qualifications:

• Experience in facilitation is essential 
• Specific skills in adult education is an asset
• Specialty in co-op/credit union governance, financial management
• Experience with small rural credit unions and agricultural co-operatives is an asset
• Previous experience as an international CCA volunteer is an asset
• Ability to work in a team consisting of local partners and translators
• Proven cross-cultural adaptation
• Excellent communication and report writing skills
• Canadian citizen or landed immigrant
• In good health, able to travel to remote areas, at times with little access to "comforts from home" 

Canadian Co-operative Association

The Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA) is a national association for co-operatives in Canada, representing more than nine million co-operative and credit union members from over 2,000 organizations.  Individual co-op members are represented by CCA either directly through their co-operative, through their provincial co-op associations or credit union central, or through sectoral organizations. CCA provides leadership to promote, develop, and unite co-operatives and credit unions for the benefit of people in Canada and around the world.   

Uganda Co-operative Alliance (UCA)

Co-operative unions formed UCA in 1961 as the apex body of the Ugandan co-operative movement. As the apex it had three main mandates: to carry out advocacy and representation of the Uganda co-operatives, to provide education and training and, to mobilize resources for the development of the co-operative movement.  UCA's membership consists of Primary Societies, Area Co-operative Enterprises as well as district and national and district unions.  Primary societies and district unions are spread throughout the country. By 2003 over 7,000 primary societies were registered. Nine district unions and two national unions are active. All these have direct access to the UCA. Area Co-operatives Enterprises are relatively new and a product of restructuring carried out by the UCA within the last five years.