Inabe City in Mie Prefecture is working to promote fair trade, aiming to promote local production and consumption and the circulation of the local economy, in order to promote sustainable urban development. As part of this promotional activity, they are creating opportunities for children growing up in the city to learn about fair trade, and are publishing an e-booklet called "Inabe Teen Fair Trade Book" to help them learn about businesses in the city that are committed to fair trade.^*We are providing support to students at Inabe City Fujiwara Junior High School to produce the film "The Great Passage."
*This initiative began in 2022 as an industry-government-academia collaboration with Morisawa, and this year marks the third time (third year) that we have undertaken this initiative.

This time, we spoke with Mr. Kazunami of the Commerce, Industry and Tourism Division of the Agriculture, Forestry and Commerce Department of Inabe City about the purpose of this industry-government-academia collaboration and how he hopes children will grow up through this initiative.

Fair trade contributes to all of the SDGs

Q. What do you hope will happen to children as a result of this industry-government-academia collaboration?

We are working on this industry-government-academia collaboration with the hope that the children of Inabe City will come to love the town where they were born and live.
When children think about their future, they will say, "I want to continue living in this town," and even if they leave for school or work, they will say, "I want to come back someday." We want to make this a town where people can continue to live and a town that people will choose.
People are essential to sustainable urban development. And to be an option, we believe that a town must be attractive enough that people want to live there and continue to live there.

Fair trade is said to contribute to achieving all of the SDGs.

"Fair prices" and "good quality" create a virtuous cycle of economic activity all over the world.
Fair trade activities within Inabe City lead to local production and consumption and circulation in the local economy.
By continuously purchasing products from developing countries at fair prices, we promote fair trade, which aims to improve the lives of producers and workers in those countries and help them become independent.At the same time, we aim to revitalize the Inabe region by promoting "local fair trade," a local production and consumption activity.

We hope to promote sustainable urban development through promoting local industries through product development, collaborating with local companies, and providing new learning opportunities for children.

Creating a community where people can love their local area and continue to live

Inabe City is working to revitalize the region with the aim of making it a city where people can continue to live.

In order to encourage people to settle down, it is necessary to maintain and enhance their satisfaction and livability, in other words, to take steps that will lead to them feeling pride and attachment to their town.

Fujiwara Junior High School has a strong interest in the SDGs as a school, and is working on the SDGs in the community under the theme of "loving the community and creating a town where people can continue to live."

I believe that a major factor in this is that by taking Morisawa's class "Let's create materials that communicate!", students are provided with an environment where they can learn more than just the SDGs.

Q. Have you noticed any changes in the children?

This time too, the students went out to do their research on their own.
Even students who initially don't know what fair trade is will learn the basics and visit stores, and discover the many charms of Inabe, such as "I've never known there was a store like this in my town," "There are adults who work like this," and "There are adults who are involved in these kinds of activities."
It is very encouraging to see the students learn key points about communication from Morisawa, compile their findings into reports, and share them with their peers and teachers.

Interactions that arise through initiatives

We heard that being interviewed by the students was also a good stimulus for the business owners. Having their stores introduced and being asked why they support fair trade gave them a chance to reexamine their own efforts.
In this way, momentum is building among the businesses taking part, and interactions are emerging.

This initiative has also attracted the attention of the Japan Fair Trade Forum and was introduced at the International Fair Trade Town Conference held in Switzerland in 2023, which brings together countries with fair trade towns.

After learning about fair trade, he became interested in the store and visited Inabe City.
Learn about fair trade in Inabe City, get your hands on fair trade products, and get your hands on local products.
The order doesn't matter, but I feel that this initiative will help revitalize each of them, and I'm looking forward to what happens next.

Bringing corporate know-how to local activities and branding

Through this initiative, I have once again realized the importance of disseminating information that "gets across."
If only a few people or a few areas are excited about this, it will not lead to overall revitalization, and I believe that it is only by getting the word out to a large number of people that businesses will be motivated and civic pride will be fostered. In order to get many people to know about this initiative and get them interested in the city of Inabe, city promotion is important.

Currently, fair trade efforts are mainly carried out by citizen groups. Publicity materials used in activities and panels used at events are also made by these groups. While they have a handmade feel, the materials are made by people who have a good understanding of the initiative, so they have a very nice finish.
However, we are currently compiling all the information we want to share into one pamphlet, including the fair trade system, a map of participating stores in the city, sponsoring companies, etc. In addition to that, there is still a lot we want to share, such as the aspirations of each business, the history of activities undertaken as Inabe Fair Trade Town, etc.
We would like Morisawa to act as an advisor and impart its know-how on creating materials to the local community, so that we can communicate this information in a more effective way than we do now, by determining what methods and media we should use to communicate this information.

When promoting various initiatives such as community activities, there is a limit to what local governments can do alone. With the cooperation of companies and local residents who each have their own know-how, it would be great if we could make everyone involved happy and further revitalize the community.

Notice

Training to improve public relations skills! Design Program for "communicative" materials

Morisawa has launched a training program for public organizations, school staff, faculty members, and companies this year to help them design materials that "communicate" with the public.
This is a training program by a font maker that explains the art of document creation in an easy-to-understand, logical manner, and supports the development of document creation skills that do not rely solely on good taste.
For more information, along with municipal case studies, seehere (place close to the speaker or where the speaker is)for more information.

Municipal Enactment Font to enhance local branding

At a time when municipalities are required to diversify their information disseminationFace (brand image)To clarify theVoice (font)Why not strengthen your local branding by unifying the

For more information.here (place close to the speaker or where the speaker is)Please refer to the documents in the following section.