Community Capacity and Rural Development

117 Furthermore, the case of Bungotakada serves to demonstrate the cyclical nature of community capacity, which can be seen in the A-A-A cycle. The intervention strategy helped to create a vision (revitalization through the retro modern town), which in turn, fostered the development of the other community capacity attributes (commitment of shop owners, commercial plans, the use of Showa era items), then produced community actions (the creation of Showa town), that in turn inspire the growth of the community capacity attributes (stronger commitment to and participation in the concept of Showa town) to produce more sophisticated community actions (the museums and the second ginza).

Table 5 - A-A-A description of Bungotakada

Attributes Agents Actions

Sense of Community

• Vision of creating Showa Town - feeling in

community changed from despair to hope after creation of vision

• Bungotakada Commerce and Industry Association

• Mr. Hironobu Komiya

• Oita Prefectural government

• Bungotakada local government

• Shop owners

• Political networks

• Study Tours to other Showa Towns

• Revitalization Strategy

development and planning

• Refurbishment of shops

• Creation of Show era shopping ginza

• Construction of museums

• Revitalization of Showa era products – geta, ice candy

• Creation of new local specialties – paintings, handcrafts, uzu juice

• Expansion to second ginza

Commitment • Store owners endured cost of changing store fronts to be consistent with Show era look – inspired hold out shop owners to upgrade as well

Objectives • Commercial area revitalization study and plans

Resources • Showa era buildings

• Items from Showa era

• Skills and memories to recreate Showa era village

• Elderly people

• Government subsidies

Source: Author

Table 5 describes the basic attributes and agents that contributed to the actions for the resurgence of Bungotakada. The most notable attribute in this case is the ability to recognize and use the resources available in the community. This contributes further the development of the sense of community and community capacity, as well as economic growth.

118 According to McMillan and George (1986) “strong communities are those that offer members positive ways to interact, important events to share and ways to resolve them properly, opportunities to honor members, opportunities to invest in the community, and opportunities to experience a spiritual bond among members (p. 14)." From this, it can be seen that the strength of communities can then be described through identifying the attributes of community capacity.

Therefore, rural development can be best undertaken by understanding the importance of community capacity and then building strategies for development or revitalization through consideration of the attributes.

Poverty is a common concern among rural communities. However, many strategies for poverty alleviation parse up impoverished people into aggregate groups defined by needs (Cling, 2002, p. 34). This strategy may not be as effective in curbing rising poverty rates as a holistic approach, including considerations for community capacity and governance, based on the community. Cling (2002) notes that “…[decisions] must be made on the level of village groups, associations of producers, rural communities, urban cooperatives, all of which groups, incidentally, do not only include poor people but also have their own elites (p. 35).” Thus, there is a need to define the community and its stakeholders, not just beneficiaries, to address issues within an area in a holistic way in order to better formulate policies that will make a positive impact on the lives of people, particularly in terms of poverty reduction.

Poverty reduction strategies should not be created in a vacuum from the top-down, but rather be a component of proactive and participatory rural development enacted within the community.

It is for this reason, that community capacity, which attempts to describe, incorporate, and promote social and economic activities in a community and their stakeholders, is significant in relation to rural development.

The preceding cases attempt to highlight each of the attributes of community capacity, as well as the function of the A-A-A cycle of community capacity, through the various rural development and revitalization efforts of some communities in rural Japan. The successful endeavors of agriculture and green tourism in Imori-dani demonstrate the role of sense of community in rural development planning. The commitment of the Ajimu Winery to the community in Ajimu shows how private businesses can investment themselves as stakeholders within a community. The development of Yufuin into a popular hot springs resort town displays how the ability to set and achieve objectives promotes not only economic growth, but instills faith in the sense of community and perpetuates other attributes. And the retro modern Showa Town in Bungotakada clearly depicts how overlooked resources can be accessed and converted into income and community capacity generating tools. This goes to show that the concept of community capacity can be applied in many circumstances. Additionally, not all attributes need to necessarily be strong in order to progress the A-A-A cycle. Table 6 highlights the unique aspects of each case presented here.

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Table 6 - Japanese rural revitalization cases summary

Attributes Agents Action

Imori-dani Sense of Community - “create a village where anyone would want to live”

Civil society – Matsumoto Farming Cooperative

Soybean

production and green tourism Ajimu Commitment – Ichiiko Company,

framers, and residents commit to make a scenic wine producing area and tourist location

Private business - Ajimu Winery/Ichiiko Company

Wine production and winery grounds

Yufuin Objectives – Create natural hot springs resort, preserve local environment for tourists and residents

Civil society/Public-private partnership - Yufuin Tourist Association

Creation of thriving, relaxing tourist

destination Bungotakada Resources – Recognized under

utilized resources of old buildings, Showa era items, memories and skills of the local people and elderly

Public-Private

organization -Bungotakada

Commerce and

Industry Association

Creation of Showa Town and economic growth

Source: Author

This section focused on the concept of community capacity and the four attributes of community capacity, the sense of community, commitment, the ability to set and achieve objectives, and the ability to recognize and access resources. The attributes were clarified through case examples to demonstrate both their importance and manifestation in reality.

Each of the cases of Imori-dani, Ajimu, Yufuin, and Bungotakada depict a particularly strong attribute of community capacity, as well as varied agents and actions. The questions of what the attributes look like in context, how they are connected, and how they contribute to the A-A-A cycle of community capacity were answered. The attributes manifest in various ways in a community and can be inspired by government interventions (as in the case of Imori-dani and the Vision Building Workshop), a private business (as in the case of Ajimu Winery), outside experts (as in the case of Yufuin with Dr. Honda and the study tours to Germany), or a desire for economic advancement by both the government and local business (as in the case of Bungotakada). And once there is a spark in the community capacity, the A-A-A cycle goes into motion and proceeds to produce more community capacity and more varied and sophisticated activities within the community.

Through answering these questions and showing the ways that the attributes appear and contribute to the cycle of community capacity, a conceptual framework and understanding of the role that community capacity plays are developed. This framework is particularly useful for practitioners and policy makers because it begins to show the interconnectedness of the development of community capacity and the community’s ability to progress proactively. The concepts here can be further developed into a theory, but for now they serve the conceptual basis

120 of community capacity and inspiration for others wishing to inquire about it for the purpose of making policy and planning more effective and relevant to people.