📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
"This project is actively working for SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), organized together with ""Ohara Eco Project (OEP)"" and Katsuyama city government since 2009. There were 600 inhabitants in Ohara village with 90 houses, but now only 1 elder! OEP was founded by the Foresters cooperative and local people in 2006 and have rehabilitated 7 houses of cultural heritage. Depopulation problem is serious in most of mountain parts in Japan. Many fields and forests are abandoned, so we will try to improve the situation by voluntary power! Volunteers support local community work like as cleaning up ditch, mountain road and old house, organizing local festival, agriculture in Abandoned farmland and so on instead of local people.
*Outcome of this workcamp: Please see the presentation made by the volunteer for the IVS contest in Japan; https://www.slideshare.net/nice-workcamp/e1-67951349 (only Japanese for the moment, but you can at least enjoy the pictures!). In 2019, 5 vols. from 3 countries worked well with the local people."
💼 What the programme involves
Volunteer will do various work to activate this village and preserve their culture and nature. Main work is 1)work for the community (e.g., reviving the abandon fields, chopping the fire woods, maintaining forest paths and maintain the ditch) and 2) support to renovate the old traditional house like as carrying the stuff, changing the floor, etc., 3). And do some other work for the community.
🏠 Accommodation on site
Renovated house (Japanese traditional house!). Simple shower room. Clean toilet. You don't need to bring your sleeping bag. Volunteers sometime prepare the meals by themselves. Wi-Fi are not connected basically.
📍 About the location
About 200 km north east of Osaka. Katsuyama is an agricultural city and famous for dinosaurs discovery. Ohara village is located at 500 a.s.l., and surrounded by mountains, so very isolated, but very beautiful place. (https://goo.gl/maps/vVNx8xxrxzD2)
Leisure: Exchange parties, visit to the Dinosaurs Museum, hot spring, etc.
Study theme: We may have time for discussion about “Best practice to revive depopulated areas in each country and their networking”.
⚠️ Requirements
High motivation to work hard and simple mountain life in the isolated area and respect to the local culture and way of the local organization! Speaking Japanese language is welcomed!
ℹ️ Additional information
Volunteers get knowledge about actions for developing local village. Also, the basic knowledge of the Japanese language and local culture.