Cyber Homelessness In Japan Final Presentation Megan Green Naru - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Cyber Homelessness In Japan Final Presentation

Megan Green Naru Sugiura Chisa Uehara

Needs that NGOs need to fulfill

❖ Let the society acknowledge the problem

➢ Cyber homeless themselves do not/do not want to label themselves as “homeless” ➢ Cyber-homeless are “invisible” ➢ “Homeless” is much more than people sleeping on the streets / educate the people (IEC) -redefine the term

❖ A solution to the vicious cycle

➢ Not having a fixed address ➢ Cannot rent a residence, residence registration, register their seal, and so on

Needs that NGOs need to fulfill

❖ Support for cyber homeless

➢

emotional (trauma), physical illnesses, mental and psychological help ➢ Provide “居場所” (a place to be)

❖ Stop the cyber homeless from being socially disregarded from society

➢ Take action, let the society know

Different approaches to cyber-homelessness

• Service provision
• Through business, IEC
• Raising awareness through advocacy

Non-profit NGOs addressing the issue

• Anti-Poverty Network (反貧困ネットワーク)

○ Established in October, 2007. ○ Mission: Gurantee the stable life-style and working conditions by solving problems socially and

• politically. This network is created to connect all different people and cooperate, and solve the proverty

problem.

• てのはし （Tenohasi)

○ Established and began their volunteer work in 2003. Official nonprofit NGO in 2008. The name “Tenohasi” comes from the origin of two words: 手(hand)橋(bridge). ○ Mission is based on service and reaching out directly and ethnographically to the homeless.

• The Big Issue Foundation

○ Established in 2008 as a branch non-profit organisation of The Big Issue Japan ○ Mission: To tackle the issue of homelessness by running projects for the homeless to support their independence and involvement in various activities

Anti-Poverty Network (反貧困ネットワーク)

❖ Public gathering

• We have no more patience! As poverty spreads, let us join hands and live

peacefully(参院選前集会「もうガマンできない！広がる貧困－人間らしい暮らしを求 めてつながろう」)

• Anti-Poverty Change the World Gathering(反貧困世直し大集会2009

ちゃんとやるよね！？ 新政権」)

• Anti-Poverty Festival (反貧困フェスタ）

ADVOCACY & IEC BASED

Discussion with people from different positions in society Edutainment (playing a game to learn the system)

Anti-Poverty Network (反貧困ネットワーク)

❖ Demonstrations ❖ Poverty Campaign in 2008 & 2012

• Theme: “Let us join hands to achieve the gurantee on stable life and

working condition!” (人間らしい生活と労働の保障を求めてつながろう！)

ADVOCACY & IEC BASED

Anti-Poverty Network (反貧困ネットワーク)

Campain Car that went to all regions in Japan

“STAND UP” Demo

Anti-Poverty Network (反貧困ネットワーク)

ADVOCACY BASED ❖ Publicize their statements through social media

Tenohasi てのはし

Service Provision Based

• 夜回り - Going around at night visiting the homeless

ensuring their safety and health

• 炊き出し - Distribute food daily and strive to build up a

relationship based upon trust

• Provide temporary shelters - provides address for job applications
• Medical assistance/someone to communicate with

Tenohasi Interview

Tenohasi Interview

The Big Issue Foundation

The combination of Advocacy, Service & IEC

• Regular club activities -opportunities to take part in a tea>>>> to involve in society
• Providing support & info for the homeless to find a regular job and a place to stay

Service Provision IEC

• Publish 若者ホームレス白書 and 路上脱出ガイド

○ Public libraries, hand them to other NGOs, share the info online, via media

• Regular meetings and study sessions with the experts in supporting youth and the disabled on

the issue of cyber-homelessness Advocacy

• Taking step-by-step actions to suggest the change in policies to do with housing aid

The Big Issue Foundation Interview

• What is needed to be done in order to have cyber-homeless issue

recognised more in society?

• Does BIF have any successful case/stories in supporting cyber-homeless?
• What is the most difficult part for BIF in supporting cyber-homeless?
• Do you feel that any of the institutions or systems to do with supporting

cyber-homeless that has to be changed or addressed in Japan today?

• What is the latest statistical data about cyber-homeless that BIF knows or

aware of?

• How does The Big Issue deal with the “pride” that many of the cyber-

homeless have that prevents them from receiving social help?

Questions we have asked:

• Policy making comes first

○

(no policy on supporting cyber-homeless exists yet)

• Providing information for both the citizens and the

cyber-homeless

• On its way to have society acknowledge that homeless

is not a personal choice but has a lot to do with social factors.

The Big Issue Foundation Interview

What we learned from the interview:

Opportunities & Constraints Tenohasi

Opportunities Constraints

• Building trust within the homeless through weekly 夜回り and 炊き出し
• Trusted by local community - Crops provided by local farms
• Ethnographic research on homeless people on weekly/daily basis
• Low budget, not being able to work on a lot of things
• Short-term goals based, not being able to aim for the longer-term goals. E.g.

homeless people staying at their accomodation and not trying to find a regular job

Opportunities & Constraints Anti- Poverty Network

Opportunities Constraints

• Using social media to get their message across (easier to access and utilise

info)

• Involvement of people with diverse skills background knowledges etc.
• Champions! -More persuasive
• Long-term goal -no immediate results
• Japanese government do not accept their views, resulting in lower chance that

media picks up the issue, and as a consequence people have lower recognition

Opportunities & Constraints The Big Issue Foundation

Opportunities Constraints

• Both long and short term goals
• Soft skill development -communication skills, sense of

involvement/participation, enhancing personal independence

• Not enough PR
• Fairly new organisation, still in its progress to have as many

homeless people as possible to become independent

Anti-Poverty Network Tenohasi The Big Issue Foundation Short-term × ○ ○ Long-term ○ × ○ Direct interaction with the homeless ○ ○ ○ certain location and timing × ○ × working on cyber- homelessness ○ × ○ Audience Government, society Homeless people Homeless people, non- profit org.s, society Provision of hard skills × × × Provision of soft skills × ○ ○

Different approaches and impacts

• Able to directly hear out the

voices of the vulnerable groups

• One on one interactions

The issue of 路上脱出ガイド - picked up by the TV media and newspapers, were able to widen the societal recognition Anti-Poverty Network (Advocacy) The Big Issue (IEC) Tenohasi (Service Provision) Able to create opportunities for every person from different situations in society to participate in advocacy campaigns (homeless, ordinary citizens, lawyers and experts)

Learning Points

• Different approaches needed for solution -service, advocacy and IEC
• Need to clarify who the audience is
• Public awareness is still very low
• Many of the NGOs are quite new
• Skills set /educational training is not taking place
• Possibility: if some NGOs collaborated with the government, there could be

a benefit that there will be more recognition in society

• A difficult issue to solve -redefining the meaning of homeless is needed

○ Boundaries is unclear for the cyber-homeless themselves