Certified NPO Service Grant
“Furusato Pro Bono”, a mechanism to connect with new interested populations ~Project case study report sessions from 32 projects in 19 regions~ -Held online-
《March 14, 2024 (Thursday) 15:00-17:00》For everyone involved in community development, such as administrative staff and intermediary support organizations nationwide aiming for sustainable community development
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Service Grant (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director: Iuma Saga), a certified NPO that coordinates “pro bono” volunteer activities in which working adults utilize their professional skills and experience, is a new initiative to create a related population. A case study report session on the problem-solving regional exchange program “Furusato Pro Bono”, which is expected to be a starting point, will be held online from 15:00 on Thursday, March 14, 2024.
Since the start of this program in 2011, for two years starting in 2022, we have created projects in 19 regions across the country that will support primary industries in response to the selection of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ Rural Development Subsidy.
At this briefing session, local organizations from all over the country who participated in the project over the past two years, as well as local government officials and regional revitalization cooperation teams who were involved in coordination, appeared from all over the country and introduced the specific efforts of the project. At the same time, we will consider how to connect with a diverse population in the future from each perspective.
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-A new mechanism for solving regional issues-
In Japan, aging and population decline will further accelerate in the future, and an overwhelming shortage of human resources is expected, so it is important to see how people can connect not only within each region, but also between regions and cities through mutual assistance mechanisms. Can it be done? In various parts of Japan, issues such as a lack of people to support local communities and measures to deal with vacant houses and abandoned farmland are becoming increasingly serious, and new mechanisms are needed to involve human resources from outside the region.
Service Grant proposes “pro bono” for a future society that will increasingly need a diverse population of people who provide support and continue to be involved, not only from immigrants and permanent residents, but also from outside the region. It is to utilize the mechanism of. “Pro bono” means volunteering your professional skills and experience to bring results to solving social and regional issues. Interest in pro bono work is growing, especially among business people in urban areas, and the number of participants is increasing year by year.
Furusato Pro Bono is a problem-solving regional exchange that connects working people from outside the region who are interested in pro bono work and want to get involved with the local community, and local communities and organizations aiming to revitalize the region and create a sustainable region. It’s a program.
-What is the appeal of hometown pro bono?-
In this program, working people from outside the region visit the local area, interact with people living in the region, and experience the workings of the primary industry in each region, while thinking about the potential and future of the region together with local organizations and others. , we will work together to create concrete deliverables to solve problems.
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[Hometown Pro Bono Project Example]
● Creating a crop map that conveys the charm of rural areas working on tourist farms
● Creation of target profile for agricultural work sharing program ● Improving operational efficiency using ICT for organizations working on environmental conservation and the inheritance of satoyama culture In a survey of hometown pro bono project participants, all
participants answered that their interest in rural areas had increased, and 83% said they wanted to help solve local issues from their current place of residence, and 94% said they wanted to join an organization. We hope that support will continue.”
Working people from outside the region, starting from empathy with the organization’s desire to “improve the region,” aim to solve problems together through on-site visits and online dialogue over a certain period of time. The process seems to have the effect of deepening bonds as people who understand and support the local community. There are growing expectations that this will help increase the number of core members of the relevant population who can share local issues. -Working with coordinators from all over Japan for further development- From FY2022, we will utilize GRANT, a social participation platform that will smoothly and conveniently match both working adults who want to be involved in and contribute to community development while working, and local organizations who want to obtain collaborators from outside the community. We are also working on training GRANT coordinators who will support the operation of these projects in each region.
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By utilizing the matching platform while collaborating with local “coordinators” who understand local needs, such as local government officials, regional revitalization cooperation teams, intermediate support organizations, and town development companies, we can continue to provide any number of services at any time in the future. We are creating an environment where we can send out information to recruit people free of charge.
In addition, the variety of practical cases is increasing, such as child-rearing teams made up of mothers taking childcare leave, teams specializing in digital problem solving, and projects made up of teams made up entirely of employees from the same company.
*What is GRANT?
GRANT, a social participation platform that can be used for free, currently has over 1,600 registered participants whose skills have been confirmed in advance, and matches are made with over 150 projects each year.
https://grant.community/
“Creating together” transcends regional boundaries and spreads throughout Japan. If you are interested in intermediary support organizations, local government officials, community revitalization cooperation groups, etc. who would like to support organizations and communities that are working hard in their local areas, bring a new breeze into their local areas, or increase the number of people nationwide who support their local areas, please contact us. We look forward to your participation. [Case report meeting summary]
Date and time: March 14, 2024 (Thursday) 15:00-17:00 (Connectable from 14:50) Venue: Online (viewing URL will be notified to those who have applied) Speaker: Wakayama Prefecture Naga Promotion Bureau, Regional Development Department, Regional Division Chief, Takeyuki Fukumori Mr. Shinya Yonemoto, Community Revitalization Cooperation Team, Uonuma City, Niigata Prefecture
Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture WAKU WAKU GAKKO Coordinator Tetsunari Takano Target audience: Employees of local governments, central government offices, etc. who are in charge of regional development, regional revitalization, related populations, primary industry support, NPO support, civic activities, etc.
Officials and staff of intermediary support organizations in each region Everyone involved in community development, including community revitalization cooperation teams.
Anyone interested in community development, including researchers, NPOs, legislators, and the media.
Capacity: 100 people
Cost: Free
Application: https://form.servicegrant.or.jp/furusato-2023
Sponsor: Certified NPO Service Grant Event details page:
https://furusato-probono.jp/reports/2023_annualevent/
[About hometown pro bono]
Website https://furusato-probono.jp/
Various introduction videos https://lit.link/furusatoprobono June 2021: Received “18th Alright! Nippon Grand Prize Jury Chairman Award” [About Certified NPO Service Grant]
Started activities in 2005 as a pioneer of “pro bono” in Japan. Aiming to create a “society in which everyone can take action in the face of social issues and collaborate while leveraging their differences and potential,” non-profit organizations are established primarily through “pro bono” work that utilizes the experience and skills of working adults. I have been working on coordinating project-type support aimed at resolving the issues we face. As of January 2024, there are approximately 9,000 pro bono registrants, and through a cumulative total of over 1,700 pro bono project operations, we are exploring the mechanisms of society in which diverse entities work together across boundaries.
https://www.servicegrant.or.jp/
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000014.000011350.html