OKAYAMA KENKOOO DAISAKUSEN: Oneof the largest “enterprise partnership-typesocial impact bonds” in Japanendeavouring to improve residents’ healthby utilising investment by local businesses
and residents
Background to the Project
Harnessing residents’ vitality to close thegap between long average life expectancy
and short healthy life expectancy
With a population of approx. 710,000,
Okayama City has a longer average life
expectancy but shorter healthy life expectancy
than other cities of similar size, and healthcare
costs for lifestyle-related diseases forresidents aged 65 years or older are higher
than the national average.
To improve residents’ quality of life andminimise incurred healthcare costs, in 2014
Okayama City launched the “Health PointProject” with assistance from the National
Government. This project utilizes incentives
such as gift certificates as a means ofencouraging residents to improve their health,aiming to close the gap between average life
expectancy and healthy life expectancy.
Due to concerns that the project will
become difficult to maintain with only
National Government subsidies and municipal
funding as the circle of activities widens,
Okayama City considered various methods forswitching to a sustainable system, ultimately
adopting a funding method that utilises“Social Impact Bonds (SIB)”, a new mechanism
for public-private cooperation originating inthe UK.

Okayama City

Project Outline
The more residents utilise healthimprovement-related initiatives and services,
the more points they accumulate. Users canreceive various special gifts in accordancewith the number of points they accumulate.
ProjectName:
OKAYAMA
KENKOOODAISAKUSEN
Period: April 2019 – March 2022 (three fiscalyears)
Eligible age: 35 years or older
Maximum number of participants: 15,000
Project Details:・Participants accumulate points every timethey use a service related to healthimprovement, such as “Exercise”, “Nutritionand Diet”, and “Social Participation”.
・ The number of points each participantacquires is publicly displayed on the project’s
website, and participants receive special gifts(gift certificates, welfare grants, etc.) in
accordance with rankings for each fiscal year.

Project Aims
By implementing initiatives to extend thehealthy life expectancy through engagementwith the private sector, the project aims toencourage the improvement of residents’quality of life as well as lighten the heavy
burden of healthcare costs and promote thehealthcare industry.
Poster1

well as partially curb healthcare costs.
Effects have become apparent regarding
residents’ efforts to improve their health, suchas increases in the number of steps they walkdaily and decreases in the number of residents
who are overweight.
2. The project presents a new way ofprocuring funding for innovative initiatives,
for which government investment is said tobe difficult.
This project makes it possible to reduce therisk of investment for government agencies byenabling the city to attempt a trial project—
for which securing a budget is usuallydifficult—by harnessing the strength of social
investors, with the only costs generated being
payments based on performance.

Points are awarded.
Features and Innovation of the Project
An innovative experiment in procuring
funding from the private sector that is uniqueeven among local government measures inJapan
1. Public-private cooperation: “Social Impact
Bonds (SIB)” mechanisms(1) In implementing the project, project
trustees appointed by the municipal
government collect social investments (30million yen) from local businesses andresidents, and this capital is used to create
health improvement services in cooperation
with “Exercise”, “Nutrition and Diet”, and“Social Participation” related companies.
(2) An evaluation agency assesses the extent
to which the health improvement
performance indicators predetermined by themunicipal government have been achieved,
and the municipal government pays thetrustees accordingly.
2. Growing into Japan’s representative SIB
project
In virtually all previous SIB projectsconducted in Japan, companies providing
services participated in the project asindividual units. For this project, however,more than 10 local companies providing“Exercise”, “Nutrition and Diet”, and “SocialParticipation”
relatedservicesareparticipating, making one of the largest SIB
projects in Japan (total project cost: 370
million yen).

Fitness activities at Okayama Castle
Issues and Responses
Creating an appealing menu of services toencourage large numbers of residents toparticipate and procuring the funding to do
this・While the maximum number of participants
being recruited for the project is 15,000,
Okayama City’s population aged 35 years orolder is approx. 420,000. Therefore,
developing an appealing menu of services aswell as a sustainable funding and operational
system, so as to provide these services to alarge number of residents, is regarded asnecessary for widening the circle of activities.
・ Shifting towards initiatives in line withmeasures to prevent the spread of COVID-19
and post-COVID-19 lifestyles is thought to benecessary.

Results of the Project
1．The project was seen to promote residents’voluntary efforts to improve their health, asFuture Developments
In addition to fostering a sense of health2

improvement among all residents andpromoting the diversification of service
providers and environmental improvements,
Okayama City is aiming to become a citywhere the users and providers of services are
two halves of one whole, with residents
undertaking health improvement activities intheir daily lives as a matter of course.
By promoting the understanding of SIB
projects, Okayama City aims to provide adiverse menu of services related to “Exercise,”“Nutrition and Diet,” and “Social Participation,”
as well as increase the number of service
providers in the city, thereby realising anenvironment in which residents can enjoy
such services as a matter of course.
Moreover, as the project participants’efforts to improve their health become habit,
these habits will have a positive impact on andaffect their family members, coworkers, andfriends. By using this momentum, Okayama
City is aiming to create a huge movement
involving the entire city that leads to theprevention of lifestyle diseases, the reductionof healthcare costs, and ultimately a longer
healthy life expectancy for residents.

A new mechanism for public-private
cooperation that began in the UK, whereby
investors provide funding and services in orderto resolve social issues, with government
bodies later making payments based on
predetermined performance indicators.

Reference URLs
http://www.city.okayama.jp/kurashi/0000008
033.html(Okayama City Official Website is available inJapanese with multilingual translations
services provided.)https://kenkooo.jp/(OKAYAMA KENKOOO DAISAKUSEN website isavailable in Japanese only)
Contact
Division in charge: Healthy Life Expectancy
Ranging Room
Phone: +81-86-803-1250
E-mail: hokenkanrika@city.okayama.lg.jp
Key Terms◆Average life expectancy
Prediction of “average life span” based on
statistics related to how many years a person
will live from the time they are 0 years old.
◆Healthy life expectancy
Period of time during which a person is able tolive healthily with no restrictions on their daily
activities.
◆Social Impact Bonds (SIB)
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