Nishiawakura Village, SIIF, and SCI-Japan Sign Partnership Agreement to Launch Local Community Well-being Survey for 'Enjoying Life'
Nishiawakura Village, SIIF, and SCI-Japan have signed a partnership agreement to conduct a well-being survey in the region. By visualizing the happiness of residents, they aim to create a sustainable community model and promote impact investment.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 00:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 15:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 19:15 (3h 43m after Collected)
Nishiawakura Village (Location: Aida-gun, Okayama Prefecture; Mayor: Hideki Aoki), the Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Shuichi Ohno, hereinafter 'SIIF'), and the Smart City Institute Japan (Location: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Takehiko Nagumo, hereinafter 'SCI-Japan') announce the signing of a partnership agreement regarding the 'Local Community Well-being Survey'. This aims for the sustainable development of the local community in Nishiawakura Village, Aida-gun, Okayama Prefecture, and the improvement of the well-being of every resident.
Based on this agreement, the three parties will integrally promote everything from the design, implementation, and analysis of the survey to the social implementation of its results, aiming to realize Nishiawakura Village's 'Enjoying Life' community.
The agreement signing ceremony was held at the Nishiawakura Village Office on April 23, 2026.
Scene from the 'Partnership Agreement Signing Ceremony for the Local Community Well-being Survey' held on April 23, 2026 (Venue: Nishiawakura Village Office) | From left: Mitsumasa Aoyagi, Executive Director (Representative Director) of SIIF; Hideki Aoki, Mayor of Nishiawakura Village; Takehiko Nagumo, Representative Director of SCI-Japan
■ Background and Purpose
As issues such as population decline and the shrinking of regional economies become apparent, there is a growing recognition that it is difficult to fully capture the reality and sustainable richness of a region using only traditional external indicators such as 'population' and 'income'.
In this initiative, we will conduct a 'Local Community Well-being Survey' to visualize 'invisible values' such as the sense of happiness based on residents' actual feelings and connections within the region, utilizing them as new indicators to capture the essential richness of the region.
Furthermore, rather than simply accumulating the survey results as data, we aim to realize sustainable community development by connecting them to:
Promoting dialogue between residents and the administration
Reflection in policy
Creating starting points for co-creation within and outside the region
■ Features of the 'Local Community Well-being Survey'
This partnership will be promoted by the three parties as equal partners, leveraging their respective expertise.
Nishiawakura Village
As the implementation field for this survey, Nishiawakura Village will be responsible for promoting the survey utilizing its touchpoints with residents and its local implementation. Based on the knowledge of the '100-Year Forest Vision' and community-led town development promoted so far, the survey results will be reflected in policies and regional management, deepening community development through dialogue with residents.
SIIF (Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation)
SIIF will be responsible for the design, analysis, and overall promotion of this survey from the perspective of 'system change' aiming to solve structural and fundamental issues. Leveraging its expertise in impact investing, SIIF will visualize the region's diverse capital (human capital, social capital, natural capital, etc.) and aim to build a new regional revitalization model through disseminating survey results, expanding to other regions, and working to create new financial cycles.
SCI-Japan (Smart City Institute Japan)
As a development organization for well-being indicators, SCI-Japan will provide support for the survey design and analysis methods. Based on their knowledge of regional happiness, they will analyze data from both the individual and local community perspectives, providing practical insights that contribute to policy utilization and regional strategy.
■ Future Prospects
The results obtained through this initiative are expected to be utilized in the following ways:
Reflection in regional policy
Promoting dialogue among residents, businesses, and administration
Creating related populations and strengthening corporate partnerships
Horizontal expansion to other regions
The three parties will develop this project as a new model case for regional revitalization in Japan and aim for its ripple effect nationwide.
Based on this agreement, the three parties will integrally promote everything from the design, implementation, and analysis of the survey to the social implementation of its results, aiming to realize Nishiawakura Village's 'Enjoying Life' community.
The agreement signing ceremony was held at the Nishiawakura Village Office on April 23, 2026.
Scene from the 'Partnership Agreement Signing Ceremony for the Local Community Well-being Survey' held on April 23, 2026 (Venue: Nishiawakura Village Office) | From left: Mitsumasa Aoyagi, Executive Director (Representative Director) of SIIF; Hideki Aoki, Mayor of Nishiawakura Village; Takehiko Nagumo, Representative Director of SCI-Japan
■ Background and Purpose
As issues such as population decline and the shrinking of regional economies become apparent, there is a growing recognition that it is difficult to fully capture the reality and sustainable richness of a region using only traditional external indicators such as 'population' and 'income'.
In this initiative, we will conduct a 'Local Community Well-being Survey' to visualize 'invisible values' such as the sense of happiness based on residents' actual feelings and connections within the region, utilizing them as new indicators to capture the essential richness of the region.
Furthermore, rather than simply accumulating the survey results as data, we aim to realize sustainable community development by connecting them to:
Promoting dialogue between residents and the administration
Reflection in policy
Creating starting points for co-creation within and outside the region
■ Features of the 'Local Community Well-being Survey'
This partnership will be promoted by the three parties as equal partners, leveraging their respective expertise.
Nishiawakura Village
As the implementation field for this survey, Nishiawakura Village will be responsible for promoting the survey utilizing its touchpoints with residents and its local implementation. Based on the knowledge of the '100-Year Forest Vision' and community-led town development promoted so far, the survey results will be reflected in policies and regional management, deepening community development through dialogue with residents.
SIIF (Japan Social Innovation and Investment Foundation)
SIIF will be responsible for the design, analysis, and overall promotion of this survey from the perspective of 'system change' aiming to solve structural and fundamental issues. Leveraging its expertise in impact investing, SIIF will visualize the region's diverse capital (human capital, social capital, natural capital, etc.) and aim to build a new regional revitalization model through disseminating survey results, expanding to other regions, and working to create new financial cycles.
SCI-Japan (Smart City Institute Japan)
As a development organization for well-being indicators, SCI-Japan will provide support for the survey design and analysis methods. Based on their knowledge of regional happiness, they will analyze data from both the individual and local community perspectives, providing practical insights that contribute to policy utilization and regional strategy.
■ Future Prospects
The results obtained through this initiative are expected to be utilized in the following ways:
Reflection in regional policy
Promoting dialogue among residents, businesses, and administration
Creating related populations and strengthening corporate partnerships
Horizontal expansion to other regions
The three parties will develop this project as a new model case for regional revitalization in Japan and aim for its ripple effect nationwide.