United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Many Japanese companies once offered lifetime employment and had a seniority-based wage scale, and men were expected to work long hours.
For that reason women who wished to enter the workforce alongside men and obtain similar rank and remuneration within a company had to be willing to remain in the workplace and work long hourslike their male counterparts. If they wished to keep working after marriage and childbirth, they needed access to a daycare service that would look after their children on their behalf, but daycare facilities were inadequate in both quality and number.
As Japan’s economic growth took off in the 1960s, the percentage of women in Edogawa City employed by companies began to climb. But because the daycare services necessary to allow them to remain in the workforce were inadequate both in volume and quality, upon marriage women had no choice but to become fulltime housewives, quitting their jobs to have children and bring them up. The few women fortunate enough to enjoy access to daycare services, and thus able to keep working, were forced to shoulder an excessive burden as they tried to meet the conflicting demands of the workplace and the home, since housework and childrearing were perceived as female tasks. Furthermore, they lived in constant anxiety that they might suddenly be deprived of daycare service and have to give up their job.
Most women who, having quit their jobs to have children and bring up a family, hoped to return to the workplace once their children were off their hands and they again had free time were unable to find a position that let them capitalize on their previous career experience, since their old company had already hired a fresh graduate or part-time worker to fill the post.
Thus for women, having children and bringing them up were serious obstacles to remaining in the workforce and achieving self-fulfillment.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
In implementing the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative the current mayor, Masami Tada, established four basic principles. First, provide loving care in a homelike environment. If you are going to offer a service caring for mothers’ children on their behalf, even if only for a few hours, it must deliver the same warm, human touch as does a mother. Second, insofar as possible reduce the number of children on the daycare waiting list. As many working women should be helped as possible. Third, minimize the cost to public finances. The program needs to be made sustainable by keeping both the initial investment and lifecycle costs as low as possible. Fourth, provide a seamlessly integrated set of services tailored to different stages in children’s growth. Ensuring children’s healthy development requires offering the type of childcare most effective for each age group. All four principles are indispensable to fostering the healthy growth of children and enabling women to enter the workforce without worry. By capitalizing on these principles, the initiative had as of April 1, 2011, yielded many benefits. To start with, 388 babies under the age of one were being lovingly cared for in a homelike environment by 211 home daycare providers — the largest number anywhere in Japan. Furthermore, 49 private nursery schools with flexible daycare schedules had been attracted tothe city, providing places for 2,870 extra children. And with the implementation of the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program), the area available for children’s activities expanded almost seventyfold, from 9,905 m2 to 700,480 m2. At the same time the number of children enrolled in the program climbed eightfold from 3,220 to 24,867, while the number of children on the waiting list went from some 200 to zero. The figure of 24,867 enrolled is equivalent to 66% of all the elementary-school children in Edogawa City. Childcare support services are also available in case of a sudden work commitment or illness. The Family Support program (mutual support program for childcare), with 3,676 members signed up, was used on 12,048 separate occasions in 2010. The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative is not only of great promise in promoting the social advancement of working women and women wishing to start working; thanks to the high quality of the services it offers, it is also of value in building the character of children themselves. In Edogawa, moreover, children’s healthy growth is supported by people in the neighborhood. The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative thus contributes greatly to invigorating the community. In recognition of these achievements, Edogawa has been selected as one of seven cities in Japan that strike a successful balance between work and family. And in March 2010 it adopted a declaration committing it to promoting work-life balance.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative was proposed by currentMayor Tada, and implemented under his strong leadership, in the belief that allowing women to keep working and achieve self-fulfillment would require providing seamless childrearing support from the first year of life through elementary school graduation. This initiative in support of children and women comprises four innovative programs: the Home Daycare Provider program, the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program), the Family Support program, and the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning (Edogawa SougouJinseiDaigaku). The Home Daycare Provider program was proposed and implemented by former mayor KiichiNakazato.He believed it vital for children to be lavished with affection during the first year of life, the most important period in formation of character; for that a warm family environment and physical contact were essential. If babies that age had to be put in daycare, they should preferably be placed in homelike surroundings similar to those provided by a mother. Mayor Nakazato therefore devised the Home Daycare Provider program. He created the ideal daycare environment for babies under one by recruiting women who, though not qualified childcare professionals or teachers, had brought up their own children, and using their homs to provide daycare. The idea of providing loving caring in a homelike environment remains the governing principle of childcare for infants under one in Edogawa. The remaining three programs were devised, strategically implemented,and organically integrated with the Home Daycare Provider program by the present mayor, Masami Tada, resulting in a comprehensive childcare support package. While remaining true to his predecessor’s ideals, Mayor Tada also believed that the most important thing during a child’s developmentwas extensive interaction with others. In that conviction Mayor Tada created the innovative Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program), which fostered close contact with others while making the most of existing facilities; other municipalities, by contrast, concentrated exclusively on expanding facilities as a means of eliminating waiting lists. Not satisfied with that, he further established the Family Support program, in which ordinary members of the community assist in parenting, and the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning. The Home Daycare Provider program, the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program), the Family Support program, and the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning were combined with nursery school services to create the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative, a seamlessly integrated set of programs for supporting childrearing from the first year of life through elementary school graduation. A primary reason for the initiative’s success is that many locals, sympathetic to the idea advocated by the mayor and Edogawa Citythat the whole community shouldjoin together in bringing up the children who live there, cooperated by offering their own experience and knowledge. The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative was made by possible by Mayor Tada’s strong leadership of local government coupled with the commitment of neighborhood associations and residents to helping bring up local children.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative as a whole was formulated and implemented by the present mayor, Masami Tada. He exercised strong leadership in strategically instituting the program. First Mayor Tada conceived the idea of helping women remain in the workforce by providing a seamlessly integrated set of high-quality childcare support services tailored to each stage in a child’s growth. To that end he propounded the idea of the whole community joining together in bringing up the children who live there.Thatideal of providing loving care in a healthy, homelike environment that underpinned Edogawa’s childcare programs for babies under age one, became the primary principle behind the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative. Under the initiative, children under age one are accommodated by the Home Daycare Provider program, which offers loving care in a homelike environment in place of parents or guardians. This program is truly groundbreaking in that it not only assists working women but also enables home daycare providers to put their knowledge and experience to good use. Brought into being by former mayor KiichiNakazato, it was the first program of its type in Japan and remains the largest in the country. For children aged one to five, it was decided to offer extensive group childcare services by establishing public nursery schools and attracting private nursery schools to Edogawa City.In addition, the finest level of service in Japan was offered, including childcare for convalescent children and extended-hours childcare. Finally, for children of elementary school age — six to twelve — the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) was introduced, which utilizes elementary school facilities after classes end for the day. This program was designed to develop children into well-rounded individuals by enabling them to interact with many adults in the community, while ensuring a safe place for children and solving the problem of long waiting lists for after-school childcare. It also provided baby-boomers seeking a niche in the community with a meaningful role to play. The first program of its type in Japan, it was implemented by the current mayor, Masami Tada, at all elementary schools in the city. This set of programs is supplemented by two additional pillars: the Family Support program for children aged zero to twelve, and the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning, which trains people capable of forging solutions to challenges in the community. The caregivers registered with the Family Support program and the graduates of the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning children and childrearing support studies program provide ongoing assistance to local working women. Edogawa’s Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative is a high-quality program implemented with a strategy of simultaneously meeting the immediate needs of working mothers, giving a meaningful role to baby-boomers seeking a niche in the community, and providing a seamlessly integrated set of services tailored to different stages of children’s growth.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative was instituted in the following steps. In the 1960s the percentage of working women rose with changes in the employment market, and the need for childcare increased commensurately. Edogawa established its first municipal nursery school in April 1961 in response to the need for an urgent solution to the shortage of childcare facilities. Subsequently there were further changes in the employment environment for women, with more and more taking jobs like men. Growing numbers of them therefore wished to place their children in daycare soon after giving birth in order to return to work. The Home Daycare Provider program was launched in April 1969 to provide children under age one with loving care in a healthy, homelike environment. This move, implemented by the previous mayor, marked the first phase of the revolution. For a while the combination of the Home Daycare Provider program and public and private nursery schools adequately accommodated childcare demand, but they were eventually outgrown by the needs of women. Forms of employment among women became more diverse, extending beyond full-time company positions to include also part-time jobs and temp placements arranged by personnel agencies. Moreover, women’s working conditions came to resemble men’s even more, with many being assigned to posts that entailed sudden overtime and long hours on the job. The Family Support program was therefore inaugurated in April 2001 to supplement existing services. The concept of the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) was enshrined in the roadmap for the future of Edogawa City adopted in 2002, and the idea was piloted at a single elementary school in April 2003. The next year, 2004, the program was extended to roughly half the city’s elementary schools, a total of 39. In April 2005 it was brought in at all 73 elementary schools in the city. This series of moves, implemented by the present mayor, marked the second phase of the revolution. It provided children with a safe place to go after school while supporting their healthy development, and it gave people who had retired from work a place to put their knowledge and experience to good use. With the inception of this program a seamlessly integrated set of childcare services for children aged zero to twelve was now in place. Furthermore, a children and childrearing support studies program was incorporated into the curriculum of the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning in April 2004 with the goal of further developing this set of programs by equipping people with the skills needed to identify and solve problems in the community. With this the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative became fully established as a systematic program jointly implemented by the municipal government and local citizens.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative offers a seamless set of childcare services tailored to children’s stage of development. Establishing each of its constituent programs entailed overcoming certain obstacles in the quest to support working women. The first concern that arose was the detrimental effect that group childcare might have on development of character in babies aged under one year.This obstacle was overcome by setting up the Home Daycare Provider program offering loving care in a homelike environment. Initially, becoming a home daycare provider required holding a national qualification as a childcare provider or teacher, and that made it difficult to find enough peopleto do the job. The previous mayor solved that problem with the innovative idea of accepting anyone with experience bringing up children. There were concerns that recruiting such women would undermine the quality of childcare, but that problem was solved by providing thorough training in a special training program. With regard to nursery schools, which handle the next stage of childcare, the main obstacle was a shortage of facilities to accommodate burgeoning demand. This problem was overcome through cooperation between the public and private sectors. After detailed analysis of future usage patterns, the number of public facilities was systematically increased at minimal cost, while many private nursery schools were invited to operate in the city. As for childcare for elementary-school-age children, “schoolchildren’s clubs” used to exist to look after children of working parents in Grades 1-3. But these faced several problems: a shortage of facilities resulted in a growing waiting list for places, and many children ended up attendingschoolchildren’s clubs located far from their own school, which weakened their ties with their school and neighborhood. This set of obstacles was overcome through the Sukusuku School program(community based after-school program), which utilizes all Edogawa’s municipal elementary school facilities and gets local residents involved. But none of the childcare services available through the Home Daycare Provider program, the nursery school network, or the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) was able to handle cases where a parent or guardian had a sudden work commitment or illness. That shortcoming was remedied by launching the membership-based Family Support program, which serves the needs of parents who need someone to take their children to or from school or temporarily look after them. On the other hand, many retired baby-boomers and parents whose children were now grown were seeking a new niche for themselves in the community. Therefore, in order to harness their talents for the Home Daycare Provider, Family Support, and Sukusuku School programs (community based after-school program), Edogawa set up a children and childrearing support studies program at the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning, a learning institution where people can explore ways to make a difference in the community. The Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative was thus established as a sustainable system by overcoming the obstacles facing its constituent programs and training local people to run each.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The most important resource used for the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative was community power. Community power means essentially the spirit of neighborliness — coming together as a community and collectively cherishing local children with a deep and abiding affection. Mobilizing community power requires constantly fostering communication between local residents. To that end Edogawa holds many events that bring local people together — festivals, sports meets, disaster drills, etc. Original ideas constituted the next most important resource. The first idea was obviating the need to build anything new by using existing facilities. Specifically, the Home Daycare Provider program used the daycare provider’s own home, the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) used elementary school facilities after classes, and the Family Support program used the caregiver’s own home The next idea was the bold decision to relax the requirements for becoming a home daycare provider. This move was designed to ensure large numbers of babies aged under one access to childcare in warm, loving family surroundings. Any consequent deterioration in the quality of childcare was prevented by setting up a special training program. The third idea was implementing the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) at all the city’s municipal elementary schools, which until then had been used exclusively for school education purposes. This unique arrangement enabled all children to participate in the program while giving local residents a valuable role to play. Now elementary pupils could remain on the school premises to play with friends after classes. And mothers could continue working secure in the knowledge that their children were in the safest place in the neighborhood, their school. The fourth idea was making the Family Support program membership-based. There were people in the community willing to volunteer their time to help look after children and there were mothers seeking such help, but it was difficult for the two to find each other. In addition, mothers were wary about entrusting their child to a stranger. Making the program membership-based let mothers see exactly who the caregiver was and thus put their mind at ease about leaving their child with that person. The fifth and final idea was establishing the children and childrearing support studies programat the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning. Through lectures and practicums, this groundbreaking program is designed to impart various knowledge that can be put to use in the community. The emergence and implementation of these many ideas were made possible by Edogawa’s partnership with ordinary citizens who embody community power.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Sustaining the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative requires properly monitoring changing social circumstances and the needs ofwomen, the program’s beneficiaries. Edogawa constantly examines these through the user’s eyes and acts promptly when a problem arises. Also important is minimizing financial costs. The initiative required virtually no initial investment because existing facilities were used. Personnel costs were also minimized by having local residents contribute their time. Fees are low, enabling users to utilize the service without worrying about the cost while giving them a stake in it as purchasers. Caregivers, meanwhile, make a profit, albeit small, and thus come to feel personally responsible for the program. That both sides feel a sense of responsibility better ensures the program’s sustainability. Also not to be forgotten is the need to ensure a steady supply of local people to run each program. Constantly nurturing community power is vital; hence Edogawa holds local festivals and sports meets to strengthen community ties, and trains community leaders at places of learning like the Edogawa Community School for Lifelong Learning. The initiative is easily replicable, having been made to cost as little as possible in two ways: through using existing facilities, eliminating the need for new ones, and through keeping personnel costs down by finding people in the community willing to contribute time. As an example of replicability, awareness of the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) grew after it was certified by the national government as an after-school model program in 2007; groups have come from all over Japan and abroad to see it in action. Furthermore, since receiving a commendation from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2010, the Sukusuku School program (community based after-school program) has spread to some 9,733 locations throughout Japan (as of December 2011) from its humble beginning at a single school in 2003. Meanwhile the Home Daycare Provider program has finally, after almost half a century, been recognized by the national government. The Child Welfare Act was revised in April 2010, so that home daycare providers with the same qualifications as in Edogawa have now appeared throughout Japan. Finally, replicating the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative in developing countries would have several advantages. It would reduce unemployment by creating new jobs; raise productivity by allowing both parents, including the mother, to focus on work without worrying about their children; and foster children’s healthy development by bringing them in contact with more people. And it would not require spending large amounts on new construction because it would use existing facilities — schools, public squares, people’s homes, etc.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The first reason for the success of the Comprehensive Childcare Support Initiative implemented by Mayor Tada is that it is almost exactly the kind of childcare support program that most working women dream of. That is demonstrated by Edogawa’s nationwide reputation as a good place to bring up children and its consistently high total fertility rate — 1.35 in 2010 compared to the greater Tokyo average of 1.12. The second reason for the initiative’s success is the community power developed over Edogawa’s history, which made possible this partnership between local people and government. Edogawa has nurtured community power for over fifty years. As a result many residents are strongly committed to the ideas of solving their problems themselves and bringing up children as a community. A community that residents see as their own concern is an invaluable asset, one not built up overnight. The initiative would never have been such a success without community power to underpin it. The third reason for the initiative’s success lies in the ideas for minimizing costs. Using existing facilities obviated the need to construct new ones; inducing locals to participate curtailed personnel costs. Because the program was so cheap, it took only a short time to go from the drawing board to launch and was easy to sustain. The last reason for the initiative’s success is the strong leadership provided by the previous mayor, KiichiNakazato, and his successor, Masami Tada. Mayor Nakazato laid the foundations in the form of community power; Mayor Tada with his innovative ideas systematized several separate childcare support services into a seamlessly integrated, high-quality program. Several lessons were learned from implementing the initiative: first, what an invaluable asset Edogawa’s community power is; second, that children are precious not only to their own families but also to society and humankind, being our hope for the future. By participating in the community in myriad ways and having extensive contacts with people, children develop an awareness of belonging to the community and become ready to inherit community power for the next generation. With so many citizens who see the community’s problems as their own affair, and with such dynamic leadership, Edogawa has a bright future indeed. This initiative, made possible by harnessing community power and exercising strong leadership, has lavished children with maximum affection for minimum cost, contributed greatly to building their character as tomorrow’s leaders, and given residents seeking ways to make a difference in the community a chance to do so. Most importantly of all, it has aided the social advancement of women by allowing all women wishing to continue working after marrying and having children to remain in the workforce while bringing up a family, for it delivers safety, hope, and peace of mind.


Institution Name:		Edogawa City
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Yoshiaki Ishida
Title:		Director
Telephone/ Fax:		+81-3-5662-6045/+81-3-3652-1109 c/o Mr.Tatezaki
Institution's / Project's Website:		http://www.city.edogawa.tokyo.jp/
E-mail:		shinya-tatezaki@city.edogawa.tokyo.jp
Address:		1-4-1 Chuo
Postal Code:		132-8501
City:		Edogawa-ku
State/Province:		Tokyo
Country:		Japan

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information