A CLLE is a 3-5 day workshop gathering the representatives of up to 100 rural cooperatives from a given country. The CLLEs are organized and financed by OCDC in collaboration with other international donors and organizations, national governments and farmer (con)federations, local Universities and service providers. The content of the CLLEs is driven by research bridging outstanding global theory and primary field data.

A CLLE involves the following activities:

• data collection based on a structured questionnaire to assess the structure, governance and performance of cooperatives;

• interactive lectures on the life cycle, business-membership ratio, managerial capital and land consolidation schemes of cooperatives;

• focus group discussions aiming to foster mutual learning and strategic alliances among cooperatives through the development of joint business plans;

• high-level policy debates to create peer-pressure among cooperatives and their stakeholders and promote of cross-country innovation in rural governance.

Since 2013, EDC has organized 17 CLLEs in 9 African countries (see map below), reaching out to the representatives and stakeholders of about 1,000 cooperatives.

The CLLEs implementation plan for 2019-2022 is available in here.