noun
mutual aid; mutual assistance
A formal yojijukugo used in social, economic, and cooperative contexts to describe people or groups helping each other.
地域の相互扶助の精神が大切だ。
The spirit of mutual aid in the community is important.
この協
This cooperative is based on the principle of mutual assistance.
相互援助 is a near-synonym also meaning 'mutual aid', but 相互扶助 is more commonly used in the context of social solidarity and cooperative movements.
A yojijukugo composed of 相互 (mutual) and 扶助 (aid, assistance). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the compound is conventionally associated with cooperative and social welfare concepts.