A Study of Strategies for Promoting Public Welfare Activities

Abstract

Social problems are difficult to solve at the individual level, and often require social participation and such communal efforts as public welfare activities. These activities take place in various fields, such as volunteering, civic movements, and community-based grassroots efforts, all intended to enhance social values and promote social integration. However, in recent years, the socioeconomic status and sustainability of public welfare activities have been declining, as in the current societal atmosphere, dedication and sacrifice are often taken for granted and the value of public welfare activities is underestimated. In response, there is a growing public discourse revolving around the social recognition of public welfare activities, and some local governments have enacted ordinances to promote public welfare activities. The purpose of this study is to propose strategies for building a social recognition system and a platform with diversity and communication capabilities to promote public welfare activities. To this end, this study suggests taking social compensation and support measures that take into account the characteristics and needs of social activists, and presents platform strategies for putting them into practice. First, a survey was conducted on the social recognition needs of 4,000 public activists (volunteers, non-profit organizations, and community groups). Among volunteers, “economic benefits”, such as discounts on public services or priority use of public facilities, were most frequently cited as needed, followed by "social respect." Non-profit organizations and community groups most often cited the need for “professional recognition”, meaning their public welfare activities should be recognized as an economic value and rewarded as such, followed by “economic benefits.” Therefore, different recognition strategies were proposed for public services with varying features and backgrounds. For volunteer activities, the focus of the proposed recognition strategies was on social benefits, cost reimbursement, and fringe benefits. For community groups and non-profit organizations, the emphasis was placed more on social benefits with eco nomic and professional recognition. Our proposals for social recognition of public welfare activities were organized into five strategies, 13 task areas, and 35 individual programs. The individual programs, in particular, were proposed separately for the two groups, namely volunteers and community groups/NPOs, with existing programs distinguished from new proposals. As the history of social recognition for community groups and NPOs is relatively short, most of the proposed solutions are new. Next, we analyzed the internal and external environmental context of the current public service platform using the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) method, and proposed a platform development approach that applies the Strengths-Threats (ST) and Weaknesses-Threats (WT) strategies. The ST strategy suggests building a new platform with an official certification function or a complete overhaul of the current platform, while the direction of the WT strategy is to strengthen the functions of individual platforms in each online system, such as communication and sharing, activity history management, and integrated information access. I hope that in the future, a social recognition system for public welfare activities will be introduced to enhance the efficacy and self-esteem of volunteers and to serve as the foundation for the restoration of community and the realization of social values.