障害のある人の自立と社会参加を促進し、併せてインクルージョン(共生)社会の建設を目指す。

Objective and Philosophies of Inclusion Kitakyushu

The objective of Inclusion Kitakyushu is to achieve the independence and participation in society of people with disabilities. To achieve this objective it is necessary to provide a range of services to support their independence while also working to realize an inclusive society in which all people can live normally in the regions of Japan no matter what disability they have. Furthermore, our philosophies for achieving this objective are “respect for human beings,” an approach which places the greatest importance on the dignity of human beings, “social contribution” to achieve an inclusive society, and moreover the “creativity and challenge” that will build new things in the future.

Directors and Auditors

(The terms of office are from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012)

Organization of the Corporation

The organization of Inclusion Kitakyushu consists of the Head Office, three areas, and the Persons with Disabilities Work Support Center, the Persons with Disabilities Residential Support Center, and the Disability Welfare Research Center, which are all under the direct jurisdiction of the Head Office. In addition, we have established an independent Complaint Resolution Committee as a third party institution.

Among these, the Head Office Secretariat works to strengthen management functions through personnel affairs, financial affairs, and information-related activities. It also provides support for the Three Principal Post Meetings and Management Meetings which were established this year, and carries out coordination and planning for corporate activities. In particular, we will need to make the utmost effort for substantial education and training – which could be called the lifeblood of Inclusion Kitakyushu in the future – as part of our personnel system.

The areas are made by dividing up the seven wards within the City of Kitakyushu into East (Moji Ward and Kokuraminami Ward), Central (Kokurakita Ward, Tobata Ward, and Yahatahigashi Ward), and West (Yahatanishi Ward and Wakamatsu Ward). We have established Persons with Disabilities Support Centers as the central base of each area, and have created eight facilities and businesses under the jurisdiction of East, seven under Central, and seven under West. Furthermore, we have established Group Home and Care Home (GH and CH) Support Centers, in addition to Helper Stations (Hostels), as businesses in each area. We own 14 GH and CH Support Centers in East, 15 in Central, and eight in West.

In each area, the main point to developing our business is being able to respond to the varied needs of our users as well as providing high quality services. The starting point for these things is our Care Conferences, which are carried out in a focused way through the entire organization. We are also devoting our combined strength to the creation of a structure for accepting increasing numbers of graduates of special needs education schools, as well as a system to comprehensively support lifestyles and Japan-China activities. Furthermore, from April we began the Investigative Commission for the Provision of Services to Elderly Disabled Persons, regarding the provision of services to users and other people as Japan’s population continues aging. We are also preparing for commercialization from the FY2012. The Business Development Project was also begun in April, and we are aiming to create an original Inclusion Kitakyushu employment business and ensure high wages for welfare-type labor.

Meanwhile, the Work Support Center and the Residential Support Center cover all of Kitakyushu, offering support for general employment and support via housing for moving to the region. Furthermore, the Disability Welfare Research Center is an auxiliary institution of Inclusion Kitakyushu which was built for the purpose of “Asian-style welfare for disabled persons.” It promotes research and development projects, international activities, and more. The Complaint Resolution Committee is a third party institution comprised of six members who are lawyers and experts in social welfare, which is working hard on the resolution of complaints from users and their families.

Organizational Diagram

As of April 1, 2011

History of Inclusion Kitakyushu

Reform of the Corporation (FY2003-FY2009)

In 1999 a study group at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare compiled a report on the basic structural reform of social welfare. There were three specific policy directions in the reform: 1) establishing a system founded on the independence of individuals that respects their choices, 2) expansion of high-quality welfare services, and 3) enhancement of regional welfare to comprehensively support people’s lives in the regions of Japan. These represented a major change from previous approaches to social welfare.

In response to these changes, Inclusion Kitakyushu worked on its “Reform of the Corporation” over the five years from FY2003 to FY2007. The goals of the reform were the “best services in Japan” and the “best workplace environment in Japan.” In order to achieve these goals we commenced five reforms of the organization, the projects, the personnel system, the financial system, and the awareness of employees.

The reform of the organization aimed to build a corporation that communicates well and is able to meet the requirements of the era of management, and included the introduction of comprehensive information technologies for the sharing of information and the strengthening of management functions.

Regarding the personnel system reform, we introduced an evaluation system and created a total human resources development system in which the results of the performance evaluation are reflected in the treatment of the employee and also in education, training and welfare programs, etc.

The financial system reform included the introduction of IT systems, the strengthening of structures to improve administrative capacity, and the publication of information about our financial statements in order to ensure the transparency of our management.

Regarding the reform of the awareness of employees, we endeavored to develop employees with a sense of their mission as people working in social welfare who have mastered an outstanding management sensibility.

In 2005, the old Social Welfare Services Act was extensively revised and the Social Welfare Act was brought into force. Furthermore, in 2006 the Services and Supports for Persons with Disabilities Act was brought into force. Policies including 1) integration of physical and intellectual disabilities and mental disorders, 2) construction of a user-centered services structure, 3) strengthening of support for living in the local environment and employment support, and 4) bringing transparency to decisions about payment of benefits, etc. were established and it was decided that welfare services for persons with disabilities would transition to a new structure by March 2012.

As a consequence of these developments, Inclusion Kitakyushu extended the “Reform of the Corporation,” initially intended to be completed in FY2007, to FY2009, making it a seven-year plan. We labeled the three years from FY2007 to FY2009 the “First Medium-Term Management Plan,” and devoted all of our energies to “human resources development” and “services development.” Furthermore, we also endeavored to improve our management.

March 2010 effectively marked the end of the seven-year “Reform of the Corporation.” It was a wide-ranging reform of the organization, the projects, the personnel system, the financial system, and the awareness of employees, but we were able to achieve our desired goals due to the determination of all of our employees working together. At the same time, based on the key principle that “in the end, both the organization and the projects belong to people,” we newly established the “Second Medium-Term Management Plan” for the period from FY2010 to FY2012 and decided to focus all of our efforts on “human resources development.”

Second Medium-Term Management Plan (FY2010-FY2012)

Inclusion Kitakyushu carried out the seven-year “Reform of the Corporation” from 2003 to 2009. In order to create a corporation that can respond to new eras, we reformed our organization, projects, personnel system, and financial system, and also worked to reform the awareness of our employees.

From FY2010, we further developed these efforts while also starting the “Second Medium-Term Management Plan” (FY2010 to FY2012) focused on human resources development, which is based on the idea that “in the end both the organization and the projects belong to people.”

FY2011 is the midway year of this Medium-Term Management Plan. We are aiming to carry out this plan and are continuing to go forward with our basic policies of 1) developing human resources with a strong sense of responsibility, 2) developing services which satisfy users, and 3) building a corporation aimed at independence, as well as 14 priority projects based on these policies. In particular, expanding education and training and improving our personnel system are vital for developing human resources with a strong sense of responsibility; we are also implementing the New Education and Training Plan (FY2010-FY2012) to this end.

FY2011 Business Plan and Budget

In FY2011, the midway year of the Second Medium-Term Management Plan, we are implementing the following priority projects.

In 1) development of human resources with a strong sense of responsibility, we are continuing forward with the revision of the personnel system that we have been carrying out through a three-year plan. We are also carrying out training for separate issues based on the results of training by duty which was held in FY2010.

For 2) development of services which satisfy users, we are promoting thorough “Care Conferences” in order to accurately grasp the needs of our users, which is the basis of creating services. Focused on future business development, we will establish businesses which can handle elderly users, and also establish investigative and other commissions aimed at raising wages. We will also work for commercialization when necessary.

In 3) building a corporation aimed at independence, in order to further strengthen our management foundation on the occasion of moving our Corporate Head Office Secretariat we have drafted a budget that stresses the settlement of accounts, and are thoroughly managing the progress of each business by quarter.

Furthermore, we are facilitating the promotion of crisis management, contributions to society, and the activities of persons with disabilities. At the same time we are making further progress with the initiatives of the Disability Welfare Research Center (which has entered its third year), and are successfully holding research seminars and meetings for persons with disabilities between the three countries of Japan, China, and Korea with the goal of building “Asian-style welfare for disabled persons.”

In the initial budget for FY2011, total income of the entire corporation is 2.5441 billion yen and total expenditures are 2.51234 billion yen – a difference of 31.75 million yen. Compared to the previous year, this is a 1.023 million yen (3.3%) increase. Although business income exceeds the initial budget for FY2010, this slight change is due to business-related and other changes in FY2011. At the same time, labor costs, administrative costs, and project costs have risen under expenditures. As a result, the initial budget for FY2011 did not increase greatly.

In compiling the budget for FY2011, we have switched from our traditional system of prioritizing the budget to prioritizing the settlement of accounts with serious consideration given to results. In this way, we are placing maximum importance on ensuring a difference in income and expenditure (based on settlement of accounts) for the past two years.

2010 Cash Flow Budget

Overall Corporation

（Units: 1,000 yen, %）

The accounting unit provision income and provision between accounting categories income* sections of the Cash Flow Budget for the overall corporation are flows of funds within the corporation, so they are the same amounts as in the Cash Flow Statement for the overall corporation.

Kitakyushu Disability Welfare Research Center

For both services and management, creativity is required for the development of future social welfare projects. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that in the current era only places that have creativity will survive.

Taking into account these trends in the current era, Inclusion Kitakyushu opened the “Kitakyushu Disability Welfare Research Center” in April 2009 as an auxiliary institution. Its objectives are to develop services with new value and aim to improve management, and its main operations include the promotion of 1) research and development projects, 2) knowledge management, 3) research seminars, 4) international activities, and 5) public relations activities.

The research and development projects are promoted by soliciting the original Inclusion Kitakyushu research and development projects commenced from FY2008 (a maximum of 1 million yen per project) from employees, forming a team, and as a general rule working on the projects for one year. Furthermore, it is also necessary to cooperate with universities and research institutions as much as possible to authorize the results of the research.

For the promotion of knowledge management our approach is to get employees with a shared awareness of a problem to propose a theme, create a “forum,” and debate it, through activities that attempt to create more advanced knowledge assets by collecting together thoughts, knowledge, experience, and know-how. Furthermore, we are in the process of developing the databank necessary for these debates, but the work of accumulating specific information has only just started. It could also be said that the efforts to develop future research and development projects are one specific form of this knowledge management.

The research seminars are held to present the results of the research and development projects and to give reports on the situation regarding welfare for persons with disabilities overseas. At the first seminar in 2009, the results of two research projects were presented and Professor Jong Hwa Jeong from Sahmyook University in South Korea gave a special report. The results of three research projects were presented at the second seminar in 2010, and Yim Sung Man, Chairman of the Korean Association of Welfare Institutions for Persons with Disabilities, gave a special report which was very well received.

The promotion of international activities aims to achieve international exchanges and international contributions in the area of welfare for persons with disabilities. For the time being, we perceive the current era to be the era of Asia, and so we are promoting association with South Korea and China. We are also considering exchanges with the United States and other countries in the near future.

Regarding South Korea, we have promoted exchanges primarily with the Korean Association of Welfare Facilities for Persons with Disabilities, as well as with Sahmyook University, the Seoul Municipal Welfare Association for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, and Tongmyong University in Busan.

In October 2010, Inclusion Kitakyushu and the Korean Association of Welfare Facilities for Persons with Disabilities held the Exchange Meeting for Japanese and Korean Persons with Disabilities in Seoul. It featured emotionally moving events such as presentations of personal experiences and accomplishments by persons with disabilities, as well as reports on cases by staff members. Head Director Mamoru Kitahara served as the leader from Inclusion Kitakyushu, and the attendees numbered a total of 37 people (26 people with disabilities and 11 staff members and other people). In 2011, we intend to hold a similar event with the three countries of Japan, China, and Korea in Kitakyushu City.

In addition, we held the First Japan-Korea Research and Exchange Meeting in February 2011 with strategists from Sahmyook University and researchers from the Research Center. In 2010 we also accepted trainees and interns from Sahmyook University and Tongmyong University, launched an International Activities Promotion Committee, and held Korean language lectures for staff members, users, and their families.

Meanwhile, in the case of China we have been continuing exchanges with the Jiangsu Disabled Persons Federation and the Dalian Disabled Persons Federation. In 2011 we will carry out full-scale exchange with China, such as participating in exchange meetings with persons with disabilities and seminars.

Regarding public relations activities, we are endeavoring to promote citizens’ understanding of the Center by presenting information about the latest developments at the Center on our website in a timely manner and by publishing our research magazine “Research Report” (once a year) and our public relations newsletter “Research Center News” (four times a year).

Information-Related Activities

Inclusion Kitakyushu believes it has to fulfill its obligation to be accountable as a corporation in the public interest and intends to build an open corporate organization, so we have developed very high quality information-related activities (provision, disclosure, personal information protection, and safe management).

Regarding the provision of information, the Head Office, the areas, and the businesses are each publishing their own public relations newsletters, and we also put a lot of effort into updating the website. Some of the areas even present their projects on DVDs. In particular, our motto regarding updates to the website is “accurate and fast.” We make sure that we upload new information within three days of collecting it and have set a target of 1,000 updates per year for the overall corporation. Note that in FY2007 and FY2008 we slightly exceeded this target, and in FY2009 the figure was more than 1,500 updates. Meanwhile, we believe that “information is the lifeblood of an organization,” so we send out the “Corporation News” using groupware every week, which plays a role in promoting the greater sharing of information within the corporation.

Regarding the disclosure of information and the protection of personal information, we believe that in principle all information other than personal information should be disclosed. Based on this belief, we actively provide information about the corporation and also disclose personal information if the person who is the subject of the information asks us to do so. Furthermore, the protection of personal information is carried out in compliance with the related laws and regulations and the regulations of the corporation. On the other hand, we are working to make improvements to the approach to the protection of information, which in recent years has tended to be somewhat excessive.

Regarding the safe management of information, we have been strengthening our security measures along with our introduction of information technologies, and we have developed very high quality measures to prevent the leakage or loss of personal information.

Complaint Resolution Committee

The Social Welfare Act that was brought into force in FY2005 imposes an obligation on social welfare corporations to establish a complaint resolution system. Inclusion Kitakyushu established the Complaint Resolution Committee as a third party institution even earlier than that in 2001 to receive complaints and requests from users, families, etc.

The objectives of the committee are to protect the human rights and other rights of the users and to provide services that will satisfy them. For this reason, it is necessary for the committee to be designed so it is easy for users to use and that it is able to maintain confidentiality. Inclusion Kitakyushu has set up an “opinion box” in each business, and ensures that the complaints and requests put in the box are delivered directly to the Complaint Resolution Committee. We also created a route for direct delivery of the complaints and requests to the people in charge of the businesses.

Lawyers and other experts in social welfare, representatives of family associations, and other people are appointed as members of the Complaint Resolution Committee, and they handle the complaints and requests in a fair and impartial manner. As a general rule, the people involved in the committee directly meet the person who lodged the complaint to confirm its content, and for some problems they have summoned the head of the related business to resolve the complaint.

Furthermore, a significant number of persons with intellectual disabilities struggle with communication and for them it is difficult to express what they want to say. For this reason, the people involved in the committee have held direct round-table conferences with the users and people from the family associations to explain the complaint resolution system to them, identifying existing complaints and requests. In Japan there are many social welfare corporations with complaint resolution systems, but there are not many places that have established a third party institution which includes experts and also hold round-table conferences in an effort to identify complaints like Inclusion Kitakyushu does.

As of last year, ten years have passed since the Complaint Resolution Committee was started in FY2001. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the system, Inclusion Kitakyushu held commemorative events in October 2010 that will lead to the next stage of development of the system.

Building Workplaces with Good Working Conditions

Inclusion Kitakyushu is aiming to be the “best workplace environment in Japan,” and we have devoted ourselves to building workplaces with good working conditions.

One of these measures was the establishment of an Overtime Management Committee for labor-management cooperation, and in January 2008 we started the Overtime Reduction Plan. At each workplace, initiatives are carried out while discussing how workplaces with good working conditions can be built and how overtime can be reduced. Furthermore, the monthly overtime status was officially announced at conferences with directors and heads of related businesses until FY2010, which served as a stimulus for these efforts.

On the other hand, we are also implementing improvements of welfare program aspects. These include adding Inclusion Kitakyushu original benefits on top of the standard childcare leave guarantee, introducing shorter working hours after returning to the workplace, and introducing systems for paid sick/injured child care leave and nursing care leave. Furthermore, in FY2010 we revised the “Guidelines Regarding the Provision of Money for Congratulation, Condolence, or Sickness” to encourage the taking of vacations.

These initiatives have been successful in reliably reducing the amount of overtime, which was lower than the 10 hours established by Inclusion Kitakyushu as a tentative goal. In February 2009 the Governor of Fukuoka Prefecture awarded us a prize as an excellent business in the awards for “Businesses that Declare their Support for the Raising of Children,” and in November the same year we were awarded the Mayor’s Prize in the City of Kitakyushu Work Life Balance Awards. Many of our employees have told us that they have been able to build relationships of trust in their workplaces, and that their way of working has also changed.