Social Welfare Corporation Japan Church World Service, Inc.,
Asian Training and Exchange Project
Koji Shibusawa

The Japan Church World Service began in 1958 as the Japan Church World Service, Inc., a social welfare corporation, inheriting the welfare spirit of the Church World Service, which was entrusted with distributing relief supplies (LARA; Licensed Agencies for Relief in Asia) from churches in America beginning in the chaotic postwar period.

Our mission is to help individuals with disabilities, regardless of race, nationality, or religion, to lead independent lives with personal dignity, based on the Christian spirit (agape: love of God). Then, in 1980, we started working on the Asian Training and Exchange Project as a public service. This project invites staff from Asian countries and regions who are engaged in the welfare of individuals with disabilities to Japan to improve services for people with disabilities in their home countries through training in Japan. Over the past 40 years, 84 trainees from 15 countries and regions, including India, China, and Thailand, have participated in the project.

The year before last, we were unable to invite trainees from overseas due to immigration restrictions caused by the corona disaster. On account of the political upheaval in Myanmar that occurred in such a situation, the original Five-Year Plan for Myanmar was suspended, and a new Five-Year Plan for Mongolia was established last year to prepare for inviting trainees from Mongolia. However, due to the impact of the 6th wave of the corona disaster, the implementation date was postponed, and we were finally able to carry it out from May to June of this year.

Trainees and interpreter arriving at Narita Airport

This time, I would like to report on the first-year activities of the Five-Year Plan for Mongolia. First, in order to select trainees from Mongolia, we recruited applicants in Mongolia, and from among those applicants, we selected Ms. Uyanga, who is the vice principal of a vocational training school for individuals with disabilities in Ulaanbaatar and invited her.

Mongolia and Japan have different welfare systems for individuals with disabilities, as well as different services for them. While visiting and learning at several facilities in Japan, Ms. Uyanga was surprised and impressed to see the nursing care services tailored to the characteristics and needs of each individual. The provision of work and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, various support activities for the families of those individuals, as well as consultation centers set up in each region, recognition of disabled children through childcare services for young children and their appropriate response, etc. On the other hand, on weekends, Ms. Uyanga also had the valuable experience of getting acquainted with Japanese culture by visiting the Tokyo Skytree, Aquarium, Sensoji Temple, Kamakura/Enoshima, etc.

Observation of woodworking and sewing works at a facility for the disabled

Training at Agape Center

Through this induction training course, Ms. Uyanga said emphatically, "We need to implement specific services to improve the welfare of individuals with disabilities in Mongolia in the future.” We hope that she will continue to play an active role in the development of welfare for the disabled in Mongolia.

Commemorative photo after the closing ceremony (with the service group’s board members and staff)