On December 16, the Japan Cooperative Alliance (JCA) and the International Labour Organisation Office for Japan co-hosted a webinar on "TSUNAGARU (connected or bonding) by the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE)”. The event, attended by 200 participants, was supported by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Japan Association for Advancement of ILO Activities.
The SSE is a concept that is attracting international attention, but there is no official definition by the ILO. The ILO Regional Conference on the Social Economy' held in October 2009 in South Africa defined the SSE as a “concept designating enterprises and organizations, in particular cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, associations, foundations and social enterprises, which have the specific feature of producing goods, services and knowledge while pursuing both economic and social aims and fostering solidarity.”
In this webinar, the participants learned and deepened their understanding of the SSE through domestic and international trends and reports on practices in Japan.
The webinar started with opening remarks by Mr. Shinichi Takasaki, ILO Representative in Japan, followed by a video message from Ms. Simel Esim, Director, Cooperatives Unit, ILO Headquarters. Mr. Juergen Schwettmann, former Head of the ILO Coop Unit and Director of the Partnership and Field Support Bureau, now a consultant, gave a lecture on the current status and challenges of the SSE in the world, and Mr. Kentaro Itami, Professor at the Institute for Solidarity and Society, Hosei University, gave a lecture on the current status and challenges of the SSE in Japan.
This was followed by a panel discussion on “Thinking about SSE through our efforts in the community“ among four panelists, Ms. Mariko Tokoro (Representative Director and Chairman, Osato General Management Co., Ltd.), Mr. Yutaka Aotake (Managing Director, JCA), Ms. Fumiko Kanematsu (Managing Director, Tokushima Prefecture Labor Welfare Council) and Mr. Takahito Tsunemi (Borderless Japan Co., Ltd.).
Mr. Masahiro Higa, Senior Managing Director of JCA, made closing remarks, saying that he would like to utilize the results of the webinar in the future.
A detailed report and the webinar recording can be found here.
