JCCU–ILO Joint Study Programme for African Cooperative Leaders in Japan
The Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU) and ILO, especially the Regional Office for Africa (ROAF), the Cooperative Facility for Africa (ILO/COOP Africa), and ILO-Tokyo, have been exchanging information on their activities and exploring possibility to collaborate in helping building up African cooperatives’ capacity in order to bring about a “renaissance” of the cooperative movement in Africa.
The JCCU and ILO have worked on the formulation of a fellowship programme to assist the African cooperative movement to strengthen its capacity by introducing the good lessons learnt by the Japanese cooperatives. The JCCU and ILO implemented the first joint study tour programme in August 2010 to expose selected African cooperative leaders to learn about the Japanese cooperative movement and its strongly membership-based approach through lectures and study visits in Japan. This year JCCU and ILO will implement the second round of the programme from 25 September to 2 October in Tokyo and its vicinities. The participants will be introduced to various kinds of Japanese cooperative operations such as consumers’, agricultural and financial and insurance during the one-week programme and also gain a better understanding of cooperative legislations in Japan.