Main

The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund

Introduction to Grant Projects

Center for Independent Living Iwaki

Project to support the residents of temporary housing, focusing on the use and recovery of farm fields that have been lying fallow

Activity grant

Project Description

This project operates a support center (known as the "Pao Hiroba") for the people living in temporary housing build at Chuodai in Iwaki City following the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident. The objectives are to strengthen the bonds between these people living in the temporary housing, encourage them to be more independent and develop places where they can work. At the Pao Hiroba, we hold consultation meetings for elderly people and people with disabilities, discuss individual claims for compensation, run a common room where people can meet, and run after-school clubs for schoolchildren. We get the temporary housing residents to work the farming fields within the boundaries of Iwaki City that have been lying fallow, and we recover these unused fields in which the residents take the produce they have grown and sell it at the morning market at the temporary housing facilities.

Fields
Preservation of surface soil and forests
Grant year
FY2011 Activity Grants
Grant term
2 years and 6 months
October 2011 - March 2014
Grant amount
3,510,000 yen
Activity region
Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Together with the children, leveling the field after replacement of the [top] soil

Overview of the Organization

Hideo Hasegawa, Director
Representative
Hideo Hasegawa, Director
Establishment
1996
Establishment Purpose
  • Promote independence and social participation of people with disabilities by providing disabled welfare services.
  • We aim to achieve the normalization of society where even people with severe disabilities can participate in the local community.
Main regions of project activity
Within Fukushima Prefecture
Staff
48 full-time staff members, 22 part-time staff members, 160 full members
Annual operating budget
158 million yen in 2009, 145.71 million yen in 2010, 176.81 million yen in 2011
Affiliated organizations
NPOI Nougyou 10-ji-ka Purojekuto, 3.11 Hisai-sha o Shien suru Iwaki Renraku Kyougi-kai
Main activities
  • Hold independent living programs aimed at helping disabled people who wish to become independent from institutions and their parental homes
  • Implementation of peer counseling by disabled people
  • Helper service to send people to help the elderly and the disabled
  • Care-plan preparation for elderly people who need long-term care
  • Operation of a multi-functional office (day care)
  • Assistance to victims of the March 11, 2011 (the 3.11) disaster