Evaluation of community development project by a residents’ consciousness survey : Case study of Minato-Machidukurikyogikai in Nagoya

Abstract

The aim of a community development project is to establish an effective and sustainable instrument to improve the living conditions and the economic status of local communities. After starting enforcement of the Omnibus Decentralization Act, the management of local governments has turned to co-production of public services by the public sector and residents. Promoting resident participation improves revitalization of public policies in local communities, as a way to increase efficiency, service quality and residents’ satisfaction. The real issue is how can residents get involved in the management of public services and support their community. Furthermore, another issue is how to evaluate the community development project with a particular focus on a systematic way to improve and account for public services, while enhancing resident satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the evaluation of community development projects by residents. We carried out a residents’ consciousness survey of Minato-Machidukurikyogikai and analyzed the survey results using factor analysis and covariance structural analysis. The results of our analyses are summarized as follows. First, the factor analysis identified two effects for projects ; effects of event programs and livable effects, and three effects for expectations ; regional vitalization effects, existence effects, and effects of health and education promotion. Second, the values of the latent variables that can be inferred from measurements of the observable variables provide corroborative evidence of the relationship between the evaluation of the projects and expectations through the covariance structural analysis of resident consciousness. The residents’ level of satisfaction could be observed in the projects and expectations. In particular, effects of event programs were rated high, and chief hopes for the roles were health and education promotion effects. Third, the evaluation of Minato-Machidukurikyogikai by residents fluctuated according to a differences in the residents’ family structure and preferences for the community, social concerns and recognition of the participatory budget.