Japan National Council of Social Welfare

ANNUAL REPORT

2019-2020

FEATURE ARTICLE

Towards the Realization of
JNCSW Social Welfare Vision 2020
In February 2020, looking ahead to 2040, Japan National Council ofSocial Welfare (JNCSW) formulated JNCSW Welfare Vision 2020
(Welfare Vision) as a compass showing the direction of proactive andcross-cutting efforts towards 2030 so that it can expand what built bysocial welfare workers or social welfare organizations such as councils
of social welfare, social welfare foundations, social welfare institutions,commissioned welfare volunteers, commissioned child welfare
volunteers, senior citizens clubs, etc. and further, can pass it to future
generations. In this article, the outline and significant points of
Welfare Vision will be introduced.
Aims of Welfare Vision
In Japan, social welfare workers and social welfare foundations haveaccumulated various social welfare practices, and worked on theestablishment or reform of many social welfare systems as well as
welfare community planning. It will lead the realization of “Inclusive
Community Society” which is promoted by Japanese Government.
In global, 17 common goals were set in “Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)” towards 2030 aiming to the realization of “a sustainable
society with diversity and inclusiveness where no one will be left
behind.”In the Welfare Vision, both the realization of “Inclusive Community
Society” promoted by Japanese Government and the SDGs promoted
worldwide are included, consequently aiming to the prosperous welfare
society where we live together. Then, what is the prosperous welfare
society where we live together? It is a society where each and every
inhabitant can work together, support each other on a daily basis, find
fun and purpose in life, and live a life without being isolated fromsociety even if they have various difficulties in their lives. Welfare
Vision transversally shows the direction to realize such society.
Efforts for Practices
To realize the prosperous welfare society where we live together, social
welfare workers and social welfare foundations are expected to actively
support the solution of community life issues. To answer suchexpectations, Welfare Vision proposes 8 recommendations for practices
as follows.

1. To deepen multiple-layered cooperation and collaboration~to establish a network for flexible and quick action~
Towards the realization of the prosperous welfare society where welive together, all social welfare organizations and workers will
cooperate and collaborate together with health workers, medical
workers, educators, lawyers, enterprises, NPO, volunteers, etc. in acommunity effectively and multi-layer structurally recognizing
their own roles.
【Keywords】➢ The role of councils of social welfare
To be a “place of cooperation and collaboration” where
various organizations and workers connect with each other,and where support for the solution of community life issues
is produced.
➢ Information collection and problem solving
Various organizations and workers in a community
recognize problems together with community residents, andtake concrete actions.

➢ Collaboration of councils of social welfare in wide range
To think out the ways of cooperation and collaboration; forexample, mutual complementation or integration of some
services in adjacent councils of social welfare, etc.
➢ The role of council of social welfare in prefectures/cabinetorder designated cities
To work with municipal councils of social welfare orclassified councils for various facilities so that a “place ofcooperation and collaboration of municipal councils of social
welfare could work effectively.
➢ The role of social welfare foundations
To be a core of community network in a “place of cooperationand collaboration” as well as to provide service for people inneed.
➢ Support for social welfare foundations
Council of social welfare in prefectures/cabinet-order
designated cities strengthen the cooperation andcollaboration with social welfare foundations.

2. To increase diverse practices~to develop various services responding to the change of needs~
Community life issues are diverse and occur in various places.
Social welfare organizations and workers dealing with various
issues should be based on the idea of targeting all people; i.e, fromchildren to adults, regardless of age, gender, nationality, etc.,
including foreigners who have a base of living in that community.
【Keywords】➢ Promotion of advocacy and improvement of the quality ofservice
To provide an environment in which all community
residents are not excluded, their dignity and will arerespected, they can choose and use appropriate social
welfare service.

➢ Development of various service
To develop new service responding to the change of needs,
as well as various services beyond the framework of public
service➢ Development of functions cultivated over many years in acommunity
Social welfare foundations practice public interest activities
from the viewpoint of how to expand their functions (bothhardware and software) cultivated over many years to acommunity.

3. To try to secure, train, and settle human resources who supportsocial welfare (social welfare human resources)~to prepare a worth place of work and to make “a system tosupport people who support others”~
To provide quality social welfare service, it is indispensable tosecure, train, and settle human resources who support social
welfare. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most important
challenge for 2030 because it is estimated that declining birthrate
and aging population will be progressed more, the elderly
population relative to the total population will be increased, andworking population will be decreased in 2030. Considering thebalance between demand and securing workers, it is important for
welfare organizations and workers to promote efforts to secure,train, and settle human resources more than now.
【Keywords】➢ To prepare a workplace where it is easy to work and continue
to work
To promote the building of a workplace where everyone canshare the ideas and can continue to work satisfactory.
➢ Career advancement of social welfare personnel
To promote a career advancement system, to expand aqualification acquisition support system and to improvelabor conditions or payment for social welfare workers.

➢ Expansion of the base of social welfare human resources
To expand the base of people who are interested in social
welfare works or activities to secure social welfare humanresources in the future.
➢ Promotion of entry of diverse human resources
To provide an environment in which social welfare workers
with diverse backgrounds can continue to work respecting
and utilizing their will and ability to work.
➢ To secure, train, and settle foreign human resources
To respect diversities of foreign workers, to provide
necessary working conditions equal to Japanese workers, tosecure them as working colleagues➢ To support a community society with its residents
To let community residents involve in; thinking aboutcommunity life issues together, supporting community
society together, etc.
➢ Promotion of understanding of activities of Commissioned
Welfare Volunteers and Commissioned Child Welfare
Volunteers
To expand the understanding of necessity and importanceof their activities as well as to improve their working
environment so that more people want to be a
Commissioned Welfare Volunteer or Commissioned Child
Welfare Volunteer

4. To try to improve quality and efficiency of social welfare service~to create a system in which all staff can enhance their expertise
and work efficiently~
Population decline will cause the relative workforce reduction
towards 2040, and Japanese Government says it is necessary toincrease the productivity at social welfare site by 5%. To increase
the productivity respecting the will of users and improving thequality of welfare services, it is important to improve the efficiency
of welfare services from the following perspectives.

【Keywords】➢ The need to pursue quality and efficiency
All social welfare workers increase their expertise, work
together to create a system where various people withdiverseskillscanworkefficiently,
promotemultidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration, andimprove comprehensive strength and expertise as a team.
➢ Improving the way to provide a wide range of services
New ways to provide services will be explored; such asbuilding management for division of duties by wide range ofhuman resources, improving service procedure/flowline/placement of goods, multi-functionalizing of social
welfare workers, etc.

5. To strengthen the base of social welfare organizations~to gain enough understanding of a community to be supportedby the community~
To realize “the prosperous welfare society where we live together,”
it is necessary for councils of social welfare to fulfill the function of“a place of collaboration and cooperation,” and for social welfare
foundations to fulfill the function of “the core of a network.”
Therefore, it is important for councils of social welfare and social
welfare organizations to strengthen their organizational base.
【Keywords】➢ To promote understanding of services of councils of social
welfareServices and activities of councils of social welfare will bevisualized so that community residents and local
governments can understand their roles.
➢ To secure various sources of funds
Diversified financial resources, including crowdfunding,will be secured to enrich the role of councils of social welfare
as “a place of collaboration and cooperation,”➢ To stabilize the staff employment of councils of social welfare
Original financial resources of councils of social welfare will
be enhanced, and their staff employment will be stabilized.
➢ Public interest activities in a community by social welfare
foundations and diversification of their financial resources
Financial resources of social welfare foundations will bediversified, including donation, for more active efforts onto
local public interest activities, and deregulation or
flexibility of usage restrictions will be requested to thegovernment.
➢ Collaboration with enterprises
Councils of social welfare, social welfare foundations andenterprises that are interested in SDGs will work together
to lead the cooperation and collaboration with anyorganizations in a community.

6. To strengthen the partnership with national and local governments~ to consider and to work with government agencies~
The Local Government Law stipulates, “local public organizations
shall play a broad role in implementing local administration
voluntarily and comprehensively on the basis of promoting thewelfare of residents." (Article 1-2). Local governments are
responsible to promote welfare of community residents, andaccording to the Social Welfare Law, community welfare plans
formulated by municipalities shall be superior to other welfareplans. Towards 2030, to realize “the prosperous welfare society
where we live together,” social welfare organizations and workers
should consider and work with government agencies.
【Keywords】➢ To secure the continuity of public consignment services, etc.
It takes some time to solve community life issues, and for
this, the long-time stable implementation of services is
indispensable; to continue services for multiple years, tocontinue the employment of professional personnel, etc. It
is also important to get a broader understanding about it.

➢ Positive commitment to policy recommendations
Being close to communities, councils of social welfare findcommunity life issues, and to solve them, they utilize
opinion expression function, cooperate with local
governments and perform advocacy movements.

7. To spread understanding for inclusive community society andencourage participation~ to promote understanding of community residents and otherpeople or various organizations about social welfare activities
and their participation in such activities~
Community residents are the main actors who work to solve
community life issues together with social welfare organizations
and workers. It is important for social welfare organizations andworkers to understand the desire of community residents and otherpeople or various organizations to contribute to the society, and toconnect them to opportunities to participate in social welfare
activities.
Social welfare foundations and councils of social welfare shouldmake much account of the implementation of community residents
counseling, experience projects such as nursing care trial, andacceptance of volunteers and practical training, etc., and promote
understanding of welfare activities so that those involved can feelthat they want to be more involved. Furthermore, in order toexpand the base of supporters in a community, the volunteer
centers of each council of social welfare should recognize theimportance of their role and be more active.
【Keywords】➢ Building of mutual trust relationship and dissemination of
information
Councils of social welfare, social welfare foundations, or
social welfare institutions disseminate information to build
a mutual trust relationship with community residents bywhom their raison d'etre is admitted.

➢ Promotion of international cooperation
The international network (especially in Asian countries)that has been built so far in social welfare field will bestrengthened to contribute to country development as wellas human resource development.

8. To prepare for disasters~ to prepare organizations or communities to be tough fordisasters~
Disaster prevention or disaster support activities are common
challenge for all communities. When a disaster occurs, people feelthe need of social ties. Recently, large-scale disasters occurred one
after another, and it is also predicted that Nankai megathrustearthquake or earthquake whose epicenter is directly below Tokyo
may be occurred in the near future. To respond to such disasters
immediately and to provide disaster support services quickly andefficiently, it is significant to consider how to prepare for disastereven in the time of peace.
【Keywords】➢ To promote understanding of each one’s role even in the timeof peace
It is important to let community residents or local
governments know their own roles to prepare for disasters
even in the time of peace.
➢ To develop a disaster welfare support network
Even in the time of peace, it is necessary to develop adisaster welfare support network with variousorganizations, people, community residents, etc.
➢ To establish disaster welfare support center (tentative)
It is significant even in the time of peace to make human
networks and to develop human resources who work fordisaster volunteer centers to manage social welfare support
for victims in the event of disasters.

➢ To organize “disaster welfare assistance team (DWAT)”
Registration and formation of experts of social welfare
foundations or social welfare institutions as members of
DWAT shall be promoted.
➢ To secure public funds and legal development
Even in the time of peace, requests to secure public funds
and legal development shall be made to establish anecessary system.

Towards the realization of JNCSW Social Welfare Vision 2020
The purpose of Welfare Vision is to reveal to society that all social
welfare organizations and workers look at the near future and strive
to rebuild their organizational bases toward the realization of " theprosperous welfare society where we live together " in line with theirrespective communities, and fulfill their roles.
Even with COVID-19, which is now a global issue, people working at
councils of social welfare, social welfare foundations or social welfare
institutions are so-called essential workers who are indispensable tothe lives of community residents, and the importance of their social
roles are reaffirmed widely in the society. Regardless of any
environmental changes, responding to the changes and supporting
people's lives in the community are in line with the aim of the "Welfare
Vision."In order to put the "Welfare Vision" into concrete shape, organizations
in each field that make up JNCSW shall formulate a "course of
conduct" and develop practical activities in the future. JNCSW itself
also formulated its own "course of conduct." By promoting this, JNCSW
will endeavor to develop social welfare projects all over Japan, and will
activate actions related to social welfare, and consequently, will
promote social welfare in Japan and fulfill the expected social
responsibility.

JNCSW Course of Conduct
1) We will promote “Social Welfare Vision 2020.”
2) We will implement various practices toward the realization of an
inclusive community society.
3) We will secure, train and settle human resources who support social
welfare.
4) We will improve the quality and efficiency of social welfare services.
5) We will strengthen the base of the councils of social welfare, social
welfare foundations and social welfare institutions.
6) We will improve the system even in the time of peace so that we canprovide prompt support when a disaster is occurred.
7) We will manage our organization as a national center of social
welfare.