Action Plan under Recovery Assistance Project in 2014

IVY helped evacuees become self-sufficient through IVY Daycare, a daycare for mothers and children who evacuated Fukushima Prefecture.

Issues

Yamagata Prefecture led Japan in sheltering the most evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture during the period of July 2011 to August 2013. The number peaked at 12,890 evacuees, when one in five victims sought shelter in Yamagata. Most of the evacuees were mothers and their children, who began facing financial difficulties due to the evacuation. Daycares were needed to enable mothers to work outside their homes, but over 100 children were on waiting lists for acceptance to daycares in the city of Yamagata in 2012. It was evident that a daycare was needed for evacuee mothers to achieve and maintain financial independence.
Value of the project
The project sought to establish a daycare for children who had evacuated Fukushima so that their mothers could work. It aimed to help mothers who had voluntarily evacuated to achieve financial independence, instead of relying on public assistance.

Accomplishments in 2014

The project helped 66 evacuee mothers to find or search for work.

Other accomplishments

（1）

The number of children that were cared for on a full-time basis was 30 children per month on average, or 360 for the year. The number of mothers entrusting their children was 19 per month on average, or 228 for the year.

（2）

The average monthly attendance rate at the daycare was 85%, which shows that the center played a key role in giving mothers the chance to work.

（3）

Many mothers could only find side jobs or part-time jobs with short hours at first. Nonetheless, their finances became more solid when their working hours grew to six to eight hours a day, five days a week. Consequently, many mothers were able to leave their children at public and authorized daycare centers.

（4）

Thirteen mothers and 17 children will continue to live as evacuees in Yamagata after April 2015.