Resources on cooperatives

  1. Integrated enterprise, cooperative and financial services assessment on refugees and host communities around Jigjiga, Somali Region, and Shire, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

    13 December 2021

    The ILO conducted an assessment of the market systems (supply and demand) of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises development, business development services (BDS), cooperative promotion and access to financial services in the two regions.

  2. ILO COOP 100 Webinar V - SSE momentum: Finance for Inclusion and the Future of Work during Covid-19 pandemic

    08 December 2020

    The webinar focused on the key challenges related to the future of work, how they affect local communities, and what Social and Solidarity Economy Organizations (SSEOs) are doing toward addressing them. Two keynote speakers presented the main findings of recent research, while three discussants enriched the debate.

  3. Rokin Banks’ responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in Japan

    30 September 2020

    Like any other country, the population and economy of Japan are badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The preliminary figures for real GDP in the second quarter of 2020 show a decline of 7.8%. Rokin Banks (a network of 13 union-led cooperative financial institutions) are well positioned to provide support and protect the livelihoods of workers and their families, given their 70-year-experience in building an inclusive society and advancing financial inclusion of workers. Read about the special measures that Rokin Banks have recently introduced in this short brief.

  4. Social Finance Working Paper #76: Rokin Banks - 70 years of efforts to build an inclusive society in Japan through enhancing workers’ access to finance

    01 May 2019

    This working paper documents the experience of Japanese union-led cooperative financial institutions and trade unions in enhancing workers’ access to finance. The working paper highlights 70 years of experience of Rokin Banks in providing access to finance for workers, and in particular low income workers. The paper reviews the factors that contributed to the success and longevity of the model as well as the strategies that Rokin Banks chose to address the challenges of a changing labour movement, a changing world of work, and a highly competitive financial sector. This working paper was produced in close collaboration with the National Association of Labour Banks in Japan and the ILO Office for Japan.