The Yamada Village E-Project : Japan

Yamada village in southwest Japan faces problem related to depopulation due to migration and an aging community.
The YAMADA village e-project started in mid 1990S with the objective of incorporating Information Technology in everyday lives of villagers.
The community was included in the design as well as the implementation of the project.

Sub sequentially, the community took interest in making the project sustainable after initial support provided by the local and national administrations.
Within five years of its implementation the initiative was considered a best practice in IT implementation to benefit a rural community.
The IT has now become a part of villagers’ routine.
The growing popularity of the e-village initiative appears to have reduced the migration by opening new avenues of tourism and trade and thereby strengthening YAMADA‘s economy.

History

YAMADA is a small remote village in southwest Toyama of western Japan with a population of over 2,000
Agriculture and forestry are the major sources of income for the villagers.
The Youngers populations kept migrating to cities for better education and employment.
In 2001, over 40% of YAMADA’s workforce of around 1,200 was employed outside the village, and out of 350 farmers just 4% were full-time village farmers.
Besides agriculture, employment opportunities in the village confined to small and medium size enterprises, such as retail outlets, services, construction, manufacturing, and public office.

The main objectives of Project:

Provide easy access to information and increase information exchange and sharing
Increase communication between villages through the village bulletin,e-mail and TV phone facilities.
Promote active usage of computers and improve IT skills through training at the information center.
Promote effective healthcare with communication and medical facilities.

Project Highlights

The project was initiated to improve the overall presence of ICT(Information and communication technology) in the community:-

In household
In school
Local business operations
The expected outcomes of the project included rapid information dissemination in the village.
Increased awareness of socioeconomic activities.
Regeneration of local industries
Improvement in local administration.t
The villagers were selected as a part of ‘Pilot Information Exchange centers’ project under regional program in 1996.
The villages were selected to establish “Model” public regional information and communication technology information centers, and personal computer loan were arranged for interested household.
The project supplied and operated IT and network facilities for every interested household and by 1999 a majority of household in YAMADA had internet connectivity.
The public information center is linked to the village office and is equipped with a main server, computers for Internet surfing and training, multimedia equipment for video conferencing, training rooms and a public library.
Through Public information center, the YAMADA village authorities planned to develop a network within the village to incorporate IT in routine lives of villagers.

Impact/Results

The project was successful in building community awareness of IT and its benefits for the community.
A survey was carried at the end of year 2000 on the use of computers in YAMADA. Out of the 391 households surveyed, nearly 90 percent owned personal computers; of which 66 percent were reported using them.
The following table indicates computers were mainly used for maintain personal homepages and browsing the Internet.
Due to the incorporation of ICT there has been an unexpected rise in national awareness of YAMADA, which in turn has promoted tourism and the sale of local products.
ICT is also contributing to a slowdown in depopulation through its impact on reviving confidence in village potential.
Encouraged by increased communication links and activities as well as increased publicity and heightened village sentiments and morale, people are reported to have returned to the village insearch of potential opportunities, partners, and to work at home.
The youth also show less interest in leaving their village.
Improved healthcare system through video enabled computer .(telemedicine facility)

Key Elements of Empowerment

Access to Information

The public information center is a crucial link between village administrators and households.The main function of the information center are maintaining computer equipment, managing the communication network, dealing with computer problems, diffusing information organizing lectures and providing lecture manual on computer usage.The center plays a pivotal role in ICT diffusion in YAMADA village.

Inclusion/Participation

In the design and implementation of the project, village participation was a major consideration. A key factor in the success of e-village project is that the system has developed as a result of strong collaboration among villagers.A computer engineer from YAMADA designed the hardware;local teachers introduced the system and demonstrated using the Internet;local administrative staff obtained project funding and support.

The central and prefectural governments, private computer firms, computer professional, and university students also provided support and guidance.

Activities such as Web site building and lectures and seminars organized by the information center involve villagers of various age groups.

Local Organizational Capacity

The local community promoted village development through the e-village initative, which has established and is strengthening its community identity.

The widespread media coverage and ministerial visits have portrayed YAMADA as a highly advanced e-project in the mountains.The publicity helped promote tourism and sale of local products to outsiders.

The YAMADA community is so advanced that a host of visitors, including officials, students, teachers and journalists are keen to see the life in YAMADA.

The village has used IT actively to organize community events in recent years to increase interactionbetween villagers and visitors.

Lesson Learned

To keep up with the rapid advance of technology and communications in urban areas, it becomes increasingly necessary for rural areas caught in economic and social stagnation to develop their information network.
The YAMADA village example shows how a village can establish an easily information environment based on its specific community needs, and how a village can become technologically advanced and use IT to address its social problems such as depopulation.

The Yamada Village E-Project : Japan

Yamada village in southwest Japan faces problem related to depopulation due to migration and an aging community.

The YAMADA village e-project started in mid 1990S with the objective of incorporating Information Technology in everyday lives of villagers.

The community was included in the design as well as the implementation of the project.

Sub sequentially, the community took interest in making the project sustainable after initial support provided by the local and national administrations.

Within five years of its implementation the initiative was considered a best practice in IT implementation to benefit a rural community.

The IT has now become a part of villagers’ routine.

The growing popularity of the e-village initiative appears to have reduced the migration by opening new avenues of tourism and trade and thereby strengthening YAMADA‘s economy.

History

YAMADA is a small remote village in southwest Toyama of western Japan with a population of over 2,000

Agriculture and forestry are the major sources of income for the villagers.

The Youngers populations kept migrating to cities for better education and employment.

In 2001, over 40% of YAMADA’s workforce of around 1,200 was employed outside the village, and out of 350 farmers just 4% were full-time village farmers.

Besides agriculture, employment opportunities in the village confined to small and medium size enterprises, such as retail outlets, services, construction, manufacturing, and public office.

The main objectives of Project:

Project Highlights

The project was initiated to improve the overall presence of ICT(Information and communication technology) in the community:-

In household

In school

Local business operations

The expected outcomes of the project included rapid information dissemination in the village.

Increased awareness of socioeconomic activities.

Regeneration of local industries

Improvement in local administration.t

The villagers were selected as a part of ‘Pilot Information Exchange centers’ project under regional program in 1996.

The villages were selected to establish “Model” public regional information and communication technology information centers, and personal computer loan were arranged for interested household.

The project supplied and operated IT and network facilities for every interested household and by 1999 a majority of household in YAMADA had internet connectivity.

The public information center is linked to the village office and is equipped with a main server, computers for Internet surfing and training, multimedia equipment for video conferencing, training rooms and a public library.

Through Public information center, the YAMADA village authorities planned to develop a network within the village to incorporate IT in routine lives of villagers.

Impact/Results

The project was successful in building community awareness of IT and its benefits for the community.

A survey was carried at the end of year 2000 on the use of computers in YAMADA. Out of the 391 households surveyed, nearly 90 percent owned personal computers; of which 66 percent were reported using them.

The following table indicates computers were mainly used for maintain personal homepages and browsing the Internet.

Due to the incorporation of ICT there has been an unexpected rise in national awareness of YAMADA, which in turn has promoted tourism and the sale of local products.

ICT is also contributing to a slowdown in depopulation through its impact on reviving confidence in village potential.

Encouraged by increased communication links and activities as well as increased publicity and heightened village sentiments and morale, people are reported to have returned to the village insearch of potential opportunities, partners, and to work at home.

The youth also show less interest in leaving their village.

Improved healthcare system through video enabled computer .(telemedicine facility)

Key Elements of Empowerment

Access to Information

Inclusion/Participation

The central and prefectural governments, private computer firms, computer professional, and university students also provided support and guidance.

Activities such as Web site building and lectures and seminars organized by the information center involve villagers of various age groups.

Local Organizational Capacity

The local community promoted village development through the e-village initative, which has established and is strengthening its community identity.

The widespread media coverage and ministerial visits have portrayed YAMADA as a highly advanced e-project in the mountains.The publicity helped promote tourism and sale of local products to outsiders.

The YAMADA community is so advanced that a host of visitors, including officials, students, teachers and journalists are keen to see the life in YAMADA.

The village has used IT actively to organize community events in recent years to increase interactionbetween villagers and visitors.

Lesson Learned

To keep up with the rapid advance of technology and communications in urban areas, it becomes increasingly necessary for rural areas caught in economic and social stagnation to develop their information network.

The YAMADA village example shows how a village can establish an easily information environment based on its specific community needs, and how a village can become technologically advanced and use IT to address its social problems such as depopulation.

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