3Childcare environment arrangement for Fukushima

6. Activities

Objective 1: Opening of childcare center will encourage mothers’ employment, their economic independence and social participation

1-a) IVY organizes a preparatory team for opening of childcare center

IVY recruits a project manager for this project. Call for mothers who are wishing the opening of childcare center to organize a preparatory team

1-b) the project team will take a field survey to mothers who have children

1-c) IVY rent and reform a house to use as a childcare center

1-d) Procurement of childcare tools

Call for local citizens to donate necessary childcare tools such as small piano, picture books and toys.

1-e) IVY recruits child-minders and nurses to work at the center

Recruit people who have license of child-minder and IVY put priority on evacuees. 

1-f) Start interviewing mothers of children

Advertise the opening of the center through mailing list and newspaper ads to start interviewing mothers of children. Minimum condition for using the center is that they are evacuees from Fukushima or affected people of the disaster. Priorities are placed on the mothers who are working or wishing to work. If we have extra capacity, children of mothers who are not working can be accepted.

1-g) Opening of childcare center

Opening days and time: weekday from Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm

* Time extension and service for holidays will be considered after a while.

Target: infants to preschool children

Charge: 15,000~25,000 JPY per month (including food providing and insurance)

This charge is under consideration. Normally for accredited childcare center, the charge is determined depending on parents’ income with government subsidy. Family who receives livelihood subsidies will not be charged for childcare services for accredited center.

Objective 2: Childcare center will provide quality childcare service for children

2-a) Provide lunch and snack to be cooked safty ingredient (ex:organic, chemical –free and Cesium-free)

Objective 3: Mothers’ stress for childcare will be reduced

3-a) Counseling room for mothers

・train mothers who have an aptitude to be counselors for mothers.

・prepare a counseling room (13m2) separated from a childcare room to provide counseling service for mothers. Trained counselors and IVY hired counselors will provide the services not limited to mothers who are using the center (any affected mothers are welcome). Appointment system during nap time for children

Provide spaces to mothers in order to share informative information, so that they can not only release their anxieties and troubles, but also be encouraged to translate their ability into actions.

7. Project team

Project manager: 1

Child-minder: 5 (4 of them have a license)

Reception, accounting, general affairs: 1 person

HQ support team staff: 4

8. The long –term plans

The first phase

1, Managemet programs: Take charge of the coordination and management for establishing the childcare center, as well as the office procedure. Prepare an adequate system for child-minders in order to improve their work performances.

2,Activity programs: Monthly childcare(infant to preschool children) ,temporary childcare, care of schoolchildren outside of school time, hold consultations and information exchange meeting for parents and Child-minders.

The second phase

1,Management programs: IVY will be only involved in fundraising , property management, accounting, labor management, administrative procedure. Child-minders and parents will manage the childcare center independently.

2,Activity programs: Commence the sick children day care and activities of chind-minders with parents.

The third phase

1, Management programs: IVY will be only involved in fundraising. Stuffs in childcare center will take charge of property management, accounting and labor management. Open workshops and parent-teacher conferences in order to enhance the quality of the childcare services.

2, Activity programs: Stimulate the activities of parent-teacher conference; create a system which is able to cooperate with the institution management.

9. Total Program Cost: US$ 419,728 (1^st phase)

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3. Project duration
1st phase: July 1st 2012 – March 31st 2013
2nd phase: April 1st 2013- March 31st 2014
3rd phase: April 1st 2014 – March 31st 2015

4. Project goal
Mothers and children evacuated from Fukushima will be able to stay in Yamagata city stably with good health on a long-term basis through opening of childcare center.
(Indicator: more than 80% of the users of childcare center will answer that their stress for childcare is reduced in the user survey)

5. Project objectives
1) Opening of childcare center will encourage mothers’ employment, their economic independence and social participation (Indicator: 20 mothers will get job in 9 months)

2) Childcare center will provide quality childcare service for children evacuated from Fukushima (Indicator: more than 20 children per day on average will be taken care at the center during 9 months. In addition, more than 10 sick children are taken care at the center per month during 9 months)

3) Mothers’ stress for childcare will be reduced (Indicator: more than 10 mothers will get counseling per month at the center)

4)Mothers who leave their children in temporary childcare, are able to build a good relationship with other evacuees, share informative information with each other and connect to the concrete activities through counseling.(indicator: hold a gathering monthly for mothers)

5) After the staffs establishing the childcare center and settle down in Yamagata, they are able to take advantage of their experiences of the volunteer activities in Fukushima.

6) There is a childcare facility exists in Yamagata city, which for caring daytime unaccompanied child. But children are required to be enrolled at least a year-round. IVY childcare center enables mothers who are working access childcare facility only during summer vacation. Mothers who want to leave their elementary schoolchildren in childcare center are able to access the space in autumn as well. Thus, our childcare center can provide a gathering place for elementary schoolchildren. (Indicator: Accept more than 10 elementary schoolchildren monthly, in order to ensure mothers manage their working hours.)

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1. Project title

Childcare environment arrangement for mothers and children evacuated from Fukushima

2. Project background

80% of evacuees affected by Fukushima nuclear power plant accident (approximately 5100 households) stay in Yamagata Prefecture, adjacent to Fukushima Prefecture. In Yamagata city where IVY has its office, 1400 families are living, and this is the largest number all over Japan.

According to story that IVY staff heard directly from evacuees, majority of them are voluntary evacuees who moved from Nakadoori area, central area including Fukushima city and Kooriyama city far from the evacuation zone, and many of them are household of mother and children younger than elementary school children.

One of the reasons that these people decided to come to Yamagata is that their home area has high level of cesium but decontamination work has been late due to higher priority on evacuation zone. A newspaper article says that decontamination work will take 4 year to finish (in 2016) and only small area is completed. Because children tend to be exposed to radiation more than adults, mothers with little children, pregnant/expected mothers and wife are concerned about health influence and moved to other areas apart from their husband or family.

Such evacuation life has been last for more than 1 year, and they started to have various problems such as huge economic burden, childcare for preschool children, chasm between husband and wife caused by the aforementioned problems that lead to child abuse or divorce cases (rent subsidy is only 60000 JPY from Government).

Problem with childcare service for preschoolers

Even before the disaster, Yamagata city is known as a municipality with a long waiting list for childcare services and as of the end of May 97 families are waiting for the services. Accredited childcare centers that meet standards of the government can get subsidies from the government or local municipality, and monthly charge can be determined depending on parent’s income. Households receiving livelihood supports will not be charged for using the center. Among evacuees from Fukushima, full-time working mothers who already moved their citizenship to Yamagata can be prioritized in the waiting list, but that is difficult for those who are looking for a job. Some childcare center without government subsidies will cost 48,000 JPY per month and this is relatively high compared to that in Fukushima Prefecture and only financially stable family can afford such expensive monthly charge.

Therefore, mothers are in a vicious cycle where mothers cannot find a job because they cannot use a childcare center, so that they cannot be economically independent and suffer from economic burdens of evacuation life. Although mothers came to Yamagata to be safe and healthy, this situation makes them under stressful situation and becoming sick of childbearing and feeling stress.

In order to solve these problems, several organizations were launched within a year, but as far as IVY researched, most of the organizations are facing difficulties because of low manpower and not well-organized as a team.

Therefore, IVY decided to aim for establishment of the center with mothers who are wishing to use the center with IVY’s experience of supporting two childcare centers in Kesennuma city, Miyagi Prefecture. IVY is planning to hand over the management of the center to evacuees after 1 year (1^st phase of the project).