2019 November

Professor, Faculty of Comprehensive Management, Matsumoto University 
Hiroyuki Shirinashihama

Introduction

Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture is a provincial city with a population of just under 240,000. Traditionally, community centers in the city have been active, and on this basis, there are now 35 districts. With the population of each district ranging from 600 to 19,000, the size of each district varies widely. Various residents’ association members, children’s welfare commissioners, health promotion council members, and welfare plaza coordinators (part of an original initiative run by Matsumoto City) are appointed in each of the districts, and twelve regional comprehensive support centers have been established, based in a district and serving multiple districts. At present, the district system and the administrative system function well, and the promotion of regional welfare and regional development are being expanded.

 Under such circumstances, while systems seem to have been established to some extent, perhaps precisely because systems have been established, several issues have been raised with them. Comments concerning the district system include, “local residents (both general residents and members of the residents' association) don’t understand and won’t take action,” “while issues are identified at community care meetings, we don’t know what to do next,” and “there is a tendency for difficult cases to concentrate with the welfare commissioners in charge of the district.” Concerning the administrative system, comments include, “asking local residents to cooperate is still difficult,” “initiatives are not ongoing,” and “nothing can be done due to a lack of understanding of the system.”

To address this issue, Bring Your Skills Workshops were introduced on a trial basis. This method was developed in cooperation with Grassroots Mutual Support Project and the NPO Entrepreneurship Support Net. The main focus of these workshops is, through the course of the discussion, having participants share things they can do.

Introduction to districts and subsequent changes

Out of the 35 districts in Matsumoto City, the monthly regular meeting of the children's welfare committee in District A (population: 3,000) was used. They were asked to come up with examples of difficulties in advance. Bring Your Skills Workshops were introduced in the course of examining these cases.

Of the 35 districts in Matsumoto City, the liaison meeting of the long-term care insurance project office in District B (population: 19,000) is divided into three blocks. One of these blocks introduced the workshop as a training session. Specialists at the regional comprehensive support center were asked to put together some example cases from the districts under the center’s jurisdiction.

Of the 35 districts in Matsumoto, the system was introduced as part of a community care meeting in District C (population: 14,000). The workshops were carried out with the aim of promoting the idea that they related to residents’ activities, and not just have them end once the meeting was over.

An example of a change that has occurred after running the workshops concerns welfare commissioners in District A. These welfare commissioners have now started to frequently, although not quite every month, present cases judged as being difficult to regular meetings. In addition, at regular meetings of community children's committees in districts other than District A, similar initiatives were implemented in districts D (population: 12,000) and E (population: 2,100) with reference to the efforts of District A. District B is proactively considering introducing the scheme in the other two blocks in the district. In District C, insurers (administrative body) appraise the content as a community care meeting. In the future, introduction to other districts can be expected, in light of the scheme’s ability to improve the way community care meetings are held.

Why the Initiative Grew

Next, I analyze why the three-year initiative of Matsumoto City has been growing. Positive discussion based on flexible thinking is emphasized as the aim of and key idea behind participating in the Bring Your Skills Workshops. The workshops elicit as many abilities as possible from the participants, which makes them very simple and easy to participate in. Participants are often surprised to hear that even a simple contribution is enough. In addition, the ideas for support and assistance are first elicited as examples of what could possibly be done, rather than immediately committing to actually follow through. Another key point of the workshops is that they emphasize respecting the individual perspectives, away from expertise. The goal of all participants is to find possibilities, rather than find a solution to a problem. This naturally means that even if a participant does not have specialist skills, their individual skills and experiences are important. These skills and experiences are considered to hold immense potential to unintentionally help people in trouble. The workshops themselves do not lead to solutions to local issues, which enables them to gain an understanding of participants' perspectives and foster collective strength.

Based on these two aims and points, the implementation of this scheme in Matsumoto City revealed that the cases represented the unfiltered opinions of residents. On the surface, these cases may be from welfare commissioners or regional comprehensive support centers. However, ordinary local residents often consider these cases to be the work and responsibility of another party, and it does not usually lead to acknowledgement from others in the community. While giving due consideration to the handling of personal information, it is important to drive home the message that these cases are happening in the local community. It is important to create more opportunities for people to realize these are real cases that have occurred to people living alongside them, and that a welfare commissioner or another district representative just so happens to be telling them about it. I feel that these workshops can create these opportunities. This is because a lot of time is devoted to these cases. Therefore, the roll-out of this scheme in Matsumoto City came about as a result of taking care to increase such opportunities.

Conclusion

Finally, I will introduce two new developments that seem to be fostering community design through individual support in Matsumoto City through the process of implementing workshops and other activities.

First, from the perspective of developing local resources, is the launch of a new store for paid volunteers. Named "Community Store," it is a privately owned store that provides support for daily needs. Out of the 35 areas in Matsumoto City, this service provides paid support for the needs and problems of residents participating in salon activities in District F (population: 14,000). Orders are received from local welfare commissioners and regional comprehensive support centers. A current challenge is whether this initiative born out of an idea by an individual will spread throughout District F at the very least. This is the repetition of small-scale, short-term goals that enable one to learn about a person around him/her.

The second is the Community Care Activity Planning and Promotion Committee, which was organized by former welfare commissioners of three town councils in District E. Former welfare commissioners formed retiree’s associations out of a desire to continue serving the community. In these associations, they have established well-functioning committees and take part in community building. This is a form of community design that expands upon what already exists and finds meaning in new activities.

Such efforts to foster community building through individual support are being run not only in Matsumoto City but also in neighboring towns and villages, three of which have already been involved. Taking stock of what local residents are capable of can often help support their activities. As far as we can see in Matsumoto City, the foundation for this is the community, and it all starts with one person who lives his/her daily life alongside the community.