FaithActs x Ibasho Margaret Drive Centre was launched at Singapore

Ibasho, a new initiative under the Health District @ Queenstown, is partnering FaithActs’ new Active Ageing Centre in Margaret Drive to enable older persons to play a leading role in community change FaithActs and Ibasho are pleased to announce a collaboration between the social service agency and the global non-profit organisation, committed to creating socially integrated and resilient communities. This partnership aims to infuse Ibasho’s eight principles into FaithActs’ new Active Ageing Centre (AAC) in Margaret Drive, empowering older persons to lead activities and partake in community building. This project is supported by the Health District @ Queenstown. The new FaithActs x Ibasho Margaret Drive Centre was launched by Senior […]

Purposeful Longevity & Community Building Symposium

The number of ageing societies around the world are increasing, signalling a crucial need to address how this demographic shift impacts the health and well-being for older persons. Jointly held by the Centre for Population Health and Next Age Institute of the National University of Singapore, the symposium brings together academics, experts, policymakers and community organisers in Asia to share their experiences on community-based initiatives to empower and enhance the lives of the ageing community. The one-day symposium aims to be a great learning opportunity for all participants on identifying the best practices for optimising the health and well-being of older persons and provide a more holistic perspective on well-being […]

Feeding activity at The Philippines

On July 10th, 2021, after conducting the Senior Citizens Association of Barangay Bagong Buhay (SCA-BBB) Monthly Meeting, the SCA-BBB and Ibasho Philippines leaders join hands once again in facilitating a feeding activity for the less fortunate children of Barangay Bagong Buhay, as the country celebrates its 47th Annual Nutrition Month. The feeding activity was made possible through a generous donor (We sincerely thank you for your support). The activity was repeated on July 11th as they divided the children into 2 groups for better facilitation.

Windows installation of the Ibasho Philippines Building

The global pandemic that is COVID-19 either slowed down or stopped many things in its tracks. Including activities/progress for Ibasho Philippines. For a time, The Ibasho Philippines Building in Barangay Bagong Buhay of Ormoc City, served the purpose of being one of the quarantine facilities utilized by the city government. The elders of Ibasho Philippines should be proud that the building served such a purpose during these trying times. Cases still rise in the Philippines, but restrictions are no longer as strict. Lockdowns are no longer in place, but everyone is required to continue social distancing and wearing of masks, among other precautionary measures. The city government is no longer […]

Nepal Pictorial Booklet

We are excited to share the new Ibasho Nepal booklet, a handbook describing the Ibasho core principles with colorful photos, paintings and prose inspired by our visit to Ibasho Nepal in 2019. We are especially grateful to the Ibasho members in Matathirta for hosting us, to our team of translators at Bihani Social Venture, and to our Ibasho colleague Yasuhiro Tanaka for designing the booklet. Click here to view the booklet. Letter from Emi Kiyota, Ibasho Founder “The time to be happy now, the place to be happy is here, and the way to be happy is to make other people happy.” I found this quote when I was working […]

Ibasho House in Japan: 7th Anniversary on the June 13, 2020

It has already been 7 years since we opened the door of the Ibasho House with our elders and dedicated supporters. Our elders taught us so much and touched so many people’s lives over this 7 years. This project was started out of natural disaster, and our elders have proven that communities could bounce back better after crises. We also learned that elders are so resilient and they had so much to contribute in the process of the recovery from extremely difficult time. At this challenging time of COVID19, I hope the strength of elders in this slideshow will give us hope and inspiration for our better future. Congratulations to […]

Lessons Learned from Replicating Ibasho

Both our Ibasho technical team and local elders learned important Lessons in the process of replicating the Ibasho concept in post-disaster areas of the Philippines and Nepal. While both communities benefited from facilitation and technical support provided by individuals and organizations in Japan, Japanese expertise and methods needed to be modified in order to fit the culture and capacities of communities in different countries. Lesson 1: Find local elder leaders through collaborating with existing community organizations Ibasho’s mission is to create inclusive communities led by a group of elders. To find those elders when starting a new program, we learned that it is most effective to collaborate with local organizations […]

Participants in Ibasho Nepal

The main participants in the project are elders and women, but schoolchildren have also participated in various workshops. Many villagers mentioned that there had been no opportunity for people of different generations or genders to meet, so the Ibasho project was designed to facilitate discussions between people of various ages and backgrounds. In the beginning, 70-80 people attended workshops. Over time, that number decreased as around 20 core members emerged. Number of participants Source: FIeldnotes How did you find Ibasho? Source: Endline Survey Which Ibasho activities have you participated? Source: Endline Survey

Participants in Ibasho Philippines

According to the results from the 3rd dataset of the Ibasho’s impact evaluation conducted by the Ibasho in 2019, 154 of 296 respondents (57.2%) participated in Ibasho activities. Most elders have heard about the Ibasho, and more than half of the respondents have participated activities related to Ibasho project. The motivation of the participation derived from recommendations of friends and meetings from the senior citizen’s association. The most popular programs were recycling, bingo, and workshops. The core Ibasho Philippines group consists of 20 to 25 people. This group was most involved in the mobile café and community improvement. Are you aware of the “Ibasho” activity? Source: Endline Survey How did […]