On November 8, 2018, 13 delegates (observation team) from the Co-operative Alliance of Kenya (CAK), consisting of cooperative senior executives, local government officials, and local government councilors, visited the headquarters of JCCU and facilities of Co-op Mirai.

CAK is a cooperative alliance organization in Kenya with 14,000 member organizations. The visit was organized at the request of former participants of the study tours to Japan for African co-operative leaders which JCCU organizes every year in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The purpose of the visit, among others, was to get familiar with the activities of Japanese Co-operatives. They paid a visit to various co-operative organizations including the Japanese Co-operative Alliance (JCA), the host organization to the delegates.

The delegates first received a general explanation about the outline of Japanese consumer co-ops at JCCU headquarters ( CO-OP PLAZA) in Tokyo. Subsequently, they paid a visit to Co-op Mirai Minamiurawa Store and a day-care service center adjacent to the store where they took part in a gymnastic exercise with the users of the facility and deepened exchanges. 

general explanation about Japanese consumer co-ops at JCCU HQs

After the tour, comments were made by the delegates as follows:

1. In Kenya there are small co-operative organizations engaged in retail business, however, there are no nursing care facilities operated by co-operatives or chain stores run by co-ops.
2. Through this tour, we’ve learned the case examples of co-operative business in Japan and would use it for the development of our individual cooperatives after returning home.