The Institutionalization of NPO’s Advocacy Function in Local Government and its Challenge: from the Analysis of the NPO in Psychiatric Field

Abstract

This paper conducted case analysis of NPO’s advocacy function in psychiatric field. Analysis was conducted in order to consider local institutionalization and its challenge of the advocacy function of NPO. The psychiatric Ombudsman system is a local system of an advocacy function institutionalized in Osaka based on the activity of one NPO. Although this had a fixed result, it was abolished for reasons of financial reduction. The following three points became clear through this case analysis: (1) The “collaborative project” of local government and the NPO is institutionalized based on the plan proposal of the NPO and its process itself was the accountability of this NPO; (2) Institutionalization of the local advocacy function brought a certain amount of improvement to the policy and practice of that field in prefecture level; (3) It is necessary for advocacy NPO to achieve the accountability for the significance of an institutional result and the complementarity with the local government not only to the local government which commission that project but also to politicians and citizens in general.