 |
|
|
(PDF) |
|
|
Events (Conferences & Symposia / Japanese) |
| |
|
|
|
|
Fostering Young Researchers (Japanese) |
| |
|
|
|
|
Links |
|
|
|
|
| |
In Area E, we have been studying: (1) the theory regarding the basic analysis framework of welfare society development, (2) example cases of survival strategies and support policies for the urban and rural poor population, (3) participatory society system and its evaluation, and (4) Japanese NPO-type welfare development based on comparisons with South and Southeast Asian countries.
For the theoretical study, we invite the guest professor J. Midgley and hold a workshop every year to discuss a macro social development theory that deals with a joint field of welfare and development, which in other words is "welfare as social investment." Meanwhile, six volumes of "Chiiki Shakai to Kaihatsu no Shoso (Aspects of Regional Communities and Development)," compiled during the course of international comparison studies with Professor Toshihiro Yogo as the leader, are close to completion. This book theorizes typology by "substratum society and governing system" as an analysis framework of micro as well as mezzo level regional society, and attempts to integrate development and welfare based on two aspects (mobilization / accumulation and transfer / distribution of resources) of the social functioning of regional society. Focusing on systems that are related to operation of regional society systems and also on organizations that are the specific examples of such systems, how various organizations exchange resources and the rules used in such exchange are discussed based on experimental analyses of 36 case examples obtained from 12 countries. Then, it provides the basic policy science theory by discussing how and in what situations external opportunities such as policy interventions, which are the factors that make the regional social system dynamic, can be acted upon.
As for poor population survival strategy studies, we conducted in multiple Asian countries a case research on a generation process of a resident-led safety net which is mainly based on micro finance. Meanwhile, we started to examine Japanese and Korean self-governing independent welfare organizations or community business case examples, and therefore, we hope to promote discussions on their responsiveness. Also, based on the social rejection theory, we are carrying out Japan-Korea comparative studies on creation of a residence support system for homeless populations. Furthermore, we have had advanced discussions in the relatively new field called "impairment and development." Through experimental studies on policy tasks related to community-based rehabilitation of Southeast Asia, we have accumulated knowledge about regional as well as organizational dynamism. At the same time, a large number of graduate students who study the same topic come to our school each year.
In the field of the participatory social system evaluation theory, some of our members earned the degree for their evaluation study on the "resident contract system" of Sri Lanka, and at the same time, we have been carrying out political analysis of implementation of the participatory urban planning system in rural areas of the Philippines. From this year on, we hope to critically examine the Korean "productive welfare and participative welfare" of South Korea from the perspective of social development theory based on theoretical study. Furthermore, with "empowerment through inter-actor interactions" as the key concept, we have been conducting empirical studies with victims of human trafficking in Thailand, Japanese women from villages that are discriminated against, women from dairy cooperatives in India, women’s groups from agricultural villages in Cambodia, and the lower cast population living in rented houses in urban areas of Nepal.
In relation to the above studies, we have started to develop human resources for welfare society development in South and Southeast Asia. First, we have been conducting basic studies on the methodology and tasks regarding development of community organizers in Southeast Asia especially in the Philippines. Especially for the Department of Social Work Community Development Studies of the University of the Philippines, we provided intellectual support in the field of creation of participatory video materials and the training program theory through collaboration with other universities and a private company (Sony). This year, we plan to put into practice mutual cooperation between our correspondence graduate school and the abovementioned entities. Second, in Malaysia we completed a basic examination of the educational status and human resource needs in the field of impairment and development at Malaysian higher education institutes. Based on the result of the study, we will start examining in detail the possibility of providing educational cooperation. Third, through cooperation with JICA, we provided intellectual support for the Tamil refugee repatriation areas in northern Sri Lanka, and as a result, we officially established the "participatory rehabilitation plan" diploma course at the University of Jaffna Sri Lanka. Our university has been enhancing international networks under the initiative by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology with "attractive graduate education" as the motto, and at the same time, participating research and educational institutes from various countries are developing mutual cooperation. Under such conditions, the COE program of our school is becoming the network base.
|
|
|
|
|
