The Right Hand Foundation, as a general incorporated foundation was established for the purpose of contributing to the improvement of quality of life and the soundness of local communities. The foundation has been working to achieve this primarily by assisting those involved in social and cultural contribution activities both in Japan and overseas to continue in their work in their various locations.

As can be expected, for these social contributors to work in countries outside of their own country poses many new challenges for them. Once outside of their own country they are considered ‘foreigners’, and thus find it hard to enjoy the same privileges they once held in their own country. In today’s globalized society there are more opportunities for social contributors to play an active role in emerging economies during economic growth. If these social contributors although having sufficient abilities and a desire, are left to abandon their volunteer work due to some obstacles that are too difficult to overcome by one’s own power, this would be a loss to the entire global community.

Many of the participants of this foundation are also social contributors with long-term services in overseas. Having the firsthand experience of dealing with obstacles faced in an overseas scenario, this foundation is working to assist other social contributors to overcome diversifying obstacles and continue in their activities. In order to accomplish this it is necessary to create a concrete platform for supporting the activities of these social contributors.

Up until this point, this foundation has collected various case studies from social contributors who are presently active in various overseas locations. After analysing them they have identified the common obstacles faced by many overseas social contributors. As a result, they have been able to single out certain specific areas where a system can be set up to help overcome these obstacles, and these are currently operational.

Moving forward, this foundation hopes to continue interacting with social contributors in various lands and districts and finding out what obstacles are hindering them there, in the hopes that we can create more programs for helping them to overcome these obstacles.