On March 12, 2024, during the session of the NGO Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 68 Forum, the International Cooperative Alliance - Asia and Pacific (ICA-AP) Committee on Women and Committee on Credit and Banking held a virtual parallel side event, which was attended by 80 participants from Asia, Europe, and Africa. ARAI Chitose, Chairperson of the ICA-AP Committee on Women and Vice President of the Japanese Consumers' Co-operative Union (JCCU) was among the attendees.

The event's theme, aligned with this year's International Women's Day theme, "Invest in Women: Accelerate progress," focused on "the Impact of Cooperative Financing on Women's Empowerment in Asia-Pacific." Reports were delivered by representatives from Japan, India, Nepal, the Philippines, and Thailand. Discussions revolved around the competitive advantages of financial cooperatives, persisting challenges in promoting gender equality, and specific strategies to overcome these hurdles.

　

In her welcome and opening address, ARAI Chitose emphasized, "Investment in women cooperatives is yielding positive results in terms of women's empowerment and sustainable development, but efforts must be further reinforced in the future." She expressed her eagerness to explore ways to foster an environment within the cooperative movement that promotes women's economic empowerment and enables them to fully unleash their potential.

Additionally, in a session themed around "Innovations and Gender Inclusion in Products and Services to address the emerging women-member needs and expectations," NISHIMOTO Yuki, from Japan CO-OP Insurance (Kyosai) Consumers' Co-operative Federation, presented a case study report on CO-OP Insurance. NISHIMOTO highlighted the evolution of CO-OP Insurance since its inception in 1984, particularly focusing on the development and revision of the CO-OP Kyosai Women's Course. She underscored, "CO-OP Kyosai has evolved by listening to the voices of co-op members, particularly those in the community-based consumer co-ops who are mainly women.