The word gender has often been misinterpreted as pertaining only to women or as reducing men’s rights; however, gender has now become a mainstream development approach. This article, which summarizes the major transformation of concepts in gender from Women in Development to Gender and Development, maintains that in development projects that include a gender perspective, it is important to carefu11y observe the society and culture in the given community and examine the roles of women and men as defined within the society in order to plan a project in which both women and men can equally participate. The article looks at the major international conferences that influenced the formation of gender approaches, such as the Fourth World Conference on Women, after which the term Gender Mainstreaming became a development buzzword. The paper clarifies what gender mainstreaming means in a project setting as well as the characteristics of gender as a cross-cutting area. The author uses examples from Afghanistan, where gender components exist in a public health program funded by the United States Agency for International Development and in the Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment Project, funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.

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From the end of 1 970s to 1 980s, Japan became one of the main receiving countries of migrant workers in Asia. Although many female migrant workers have been trafficked into the sex industry, the Japanese government had not taken any effective legal measures to cope with the serious situation. As the trafficked women had been rather treated as ‘overstaying foreigners’ or ‘illegal workers’ by the government, and they had been targets for deportation, it had been hard to disclose the serious situation of trafficking in female migrant workers in Japan, as well as to take measures to protect victims. Because of the great influence by the women’s movement in the world, the UN started to tackle the issue of trafficking in persons, especially female migrant workers, from a viewpoint of women’s human rights and Violence Against Women from the 1960s to 1990s. On the other hand, in the 1990s, the UN began to see trafficking in persons from perspectives of anti-organised crime and anti-terrorism. Currently the perspectives of the anti-organised crime and anti-terrorism are getting stronger than that of the Violence Against Women. Following the similar perception, the Japanese government began to prepare actions including legal revision against trafficking in persons in 2004. Since series of the governmental actions aiming to ratify the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime stress offender punishment, they are not enough to protect victims and ensure their rights. When these actions are reassessed 5 years later in the Diet, a new law focusing on the victims of trafficking in persons must be made from a viewpoint of Violence Against Women, fo11owing their needs.

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In this study, l investigated claim-making process concerned with cats-breeding in urban area. In concrete, I conducted documents analysis and examined changing process of several different claims. In these days, pets-breeding has become a big social problem in urban area, Japan. The case of community cats in Isogo Ward, Yokohama city has come to public notice as pioneer to settle this problem, In this case, the residents, public servants, and veterinaries had symposium to discuss cat problem in their community, and instituted guideline to breed ownerless cats by the residents. I examined documents before and after establishment of the guideline. The former is the report of this symposium, and the latter is newsletter of committee promoting the guideline. These documents were examined as claims-making process, and the features of claims in these documents were abstracted. There are two characteristic claims in the report of symposium: cat-exclusion claims, and cat-protection claims. It was found that these two claims were mediated through this symposium, and the participants redefined cat problem as community problem. On the other hand, 3 characteristic claims were found in the newsletter. Those claims including neighbors' claims were made through volunteer activities.

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The present study investigated the significance of university students voluntary activity in disaster through an examination of a case of “fromHUS”, a student group active in the Mid Niigata Prefecture Earthquake in the northern part of Japan. Most of the recent university students act with “circumstantial interests”, which is not based on narratives with a coherent logic. This study exemplified that student volunteers with “circumstantial interests” can act effectively in relief and that these students learned from the activity. In addition, a concept, “a voluntary activity as a workshop” is presented as a background for this kind of activity, and the conditions which made it possible are examined.

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We conducted a field research on a Sukoyaka-net supported by the Educational Community Project of the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education. We focused on practice of the collaboration-model which region directs mainly. As a result, in the Sukoyaka-net, it became clear to be advancing organization management smoothly by using properly the collaboration-model and the cooperation-model. In addition, inserting the Child in Community, School and Family Partnerships, collaboration of the whole area was promoted more.

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A study was conducted for the purpose of developing a method to clarify the situation of the enrollment of foreign children through an evidenced-based approach and making a underlying data for reflecting in an administration measure. We selected Kani City as a pilot area where many foreigners are living. The collaborative investigation was organized by non-governmental organizations, local governments and academic researchers. A study was conducted from April 2003 to March 2004. The same investigation was conducted twice for one year. In a first study, the target population was 283 children. Among them, 68.6% of children were enrolled at school, 4.2% were not enrolled and 27.2% were unknown. In a second study, the target was 318 children. 65.4% of children were enrolled at school, 7.2% were not enrolled and 27.4% were unknown. A sequence of studies demonstrated the reality of the situations of enrollment and residence of foreign children. A method to reveal the enrollment was well developed. For subject solution, the investigation depended for every area is indispensable, because the habitation of a foreigner changes with areas. In such the present condition collaborative investigation research will became subject solution.

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After the cold war, globally there have been an increasing number of civil conflicts. This has led to an increase of international aid for post-conflict reconstruction, which can encompass relief rehabilitation and development support. The emergence of post-conflict aid has resulted in a growing interest linking humanitarian aid to development issues. This essay discusses how post-conflict aid influences the reconstruction process of communities in terms of realizing longer-term social development. The first part analyses recent characteristics of post-conflict aid. It points out the tendency of aid responses to be donor-driven (lacking local involvement), project-based and often not linked to central policy, short-term with complex and unstable funding systems, all of which do not meet development goals of the recipients. These problems become prominent during the transitional period, when the legitimacy of recipient state is uncertain, and therefore donor countries are cautious of continuing with development assistance. The latter half examines the impact of post-conflict aid during the transitional period and its effects on longer-term community reconstruction. Timor Leste is an example of post-conflict aid which reveals that aid during the transitional period causes a lack of ownership both at community and individual levels, a confusing of local governance, a weakening of community cohesion, and a stagnation of future development of civil society organizations. All of these factors undermine the ultimate goal of post-conflict aid-long term social development. For future community-based responses to achieve maximum impact and sustainability, this essay suggests that aid to communities should consider the limitations of project-based initiatives. Additionally, aid responses should prioritize community-wide and policy-based initiatives; link to other projects, strategies, and networks; and involve all levels of governments.

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