Minabe Town in Wakayama Prefecture is Japan’s leading producer of ume (Japanese plums), ac-counting for approximately 30% of the national production. In 2015, Minabe, together with the neighboring city of Tanabe, was designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In 2023, it prepared an application for the SDGs Future City program under Japan’s Cabinet Office, and in May 2024, it was officially recognized and selected as a Municipal SDGs Model Project. This study examines the application and effectiveness of Project & Program Management (P2M) methodologies in the planning process of Minabe’s SDGs Future City initiative. It also explores a human resource development approach utilizing the OECD Learning Compass 2030 framework. Furthermore, I propose a new integrated framework that combines the SDGs Future City framework with P2M management methods. This approach is expected to be effective in promoting SDGs initia-tives in rural and coastal communities.

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Japan is experiencing a significant concentration of resources and opportunities in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Fuji City in Shizuoka Prefecture, despite being a special city, lacks a university and is therefore ex-ploring strategies to increase the engagement of young people. In response, Fuji City launched the regional revitalization education program, “Workshare Support Project for Social Implementation by Students in Fuji City,” where university students visit the city to collaborate with local companies on solving various challenges. This program aims to create value by promoting and showcasing the local industries and attractions of Fuji City through “contributions to the local community” and “the devel-opment of networks with businesses.” Over the course of two years, we identified several challenges, such as difficulties in task allocation among team members, schedule management, and communica-tion between students and companies. This study aims to develop and implement a communication platform that facilitates discussions, enhances schedule management, and tracks progress, providing a common language for both students and professionals. The platform will be developed using the Pro-gram and Project Management (P2M) approach. Through this research, we aim to demonstrate the effectiveness of a tool that enables students and company professionals to collaborate effectively on regional revitalization initiatives.

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Social implementation of the R&D programs for biomass utilization had difficulties to progress due to large number of stakeholders and mismatch with the amount of natural resources available in the target region. The challenge we are facing in our R&D program is to clarify how various R&D projects should interconnect to each other and play their roles in the whole program, and how they should collaborate with local communities to be implemented in the society. In this report, we used Program Integration Man-agement to address these issues. Target implementation stages of each R&D project have been clarified by assessing technological readiness level and social readiness level of the entire program. Furthermore, the structure of interconnection among various R&D projects by life cycle management, as well as the rela-tionship with the stakeholders in the model region, have been clarified by figuring out what materials were produced at the beginning and at the end of the projects. Indication of current progression stage towards social implementation of the R&D project group was accomplished by architectural management that clarifies the program structure.

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This paper analyzes the response to a social program for accepting individuals with refugee backgrounds into a third country as foreign students through Official Development Assistance (ODA), using the framework of P2M theory. This program is characterized by (1) a high urgency to respond to needs, (2) an unstable situation due to insufficient system development and uncertain circumstances, and (3) complexity due to a large number and diversity of stakeholders. The study considers the characteristics and key points for managing programs with these traits. Through a chronological analysis of the efforts of JICA and others, it was clarified that agile management, which allows for frequent movement between the system model and the service model during program management, is crucial for realizing collective impact in programs with these characteristics, along with the requirements necessary for achieving it.

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In order to improve the workplace inadequacy of new nurses due to the gap in the skills required in the nursing field, multiple task training was developed for integrated training. Many teachers who introduce multiple task training at higher education institutions (universities, vocational schools) consider its intro- duction at their own discretion and ultimately decide whether to introduce it or not. In order for more teachers to introduce multiple task training in this way, which is dependent on individual judgment on a volunteer basis, a platform is needed to make teachers aware of the existence of multiple task training and to provide support for its introduction and implementation. The purpose of this paper is to apply the plat- form construction procedure proposed through the activities of Japan's international emergency medical assistance teams to the platform for developing multiple-issue exercises, and to increase the number of practical examples of platform construction procedures, while also showing the key points and know-how for applying them.

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Software development through global collaboration is a powerful solution to Japan's IT human resource shortage but entails various challenges. This paper proposes a practical method to overcome these chal-lenges and ensure the success of a long-term, globally collaborative software development program (e.g., the continuous outsourced development of multiple projects). Focusing on the Japan-India software de-velopment program, we define program success, identify success factors, and establish evaluation criteria for each. These criteria were applied to 26 programs at Japanese development sites in India, followed by quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the success factors' validity. Drawing on insights from this study and discussing the role of bridge personnel, we demonstrate how the P2M framework can be effectively applied.

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This study refines Japan’s long-term care certification system by applying the “3S model,” a P2M framework, and integrating profiling and program strategy management to define the pathway toward its mission and develop strategies. Drawing on target figures (processing days) from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Social Security Council (2025) [1]—based on well-functioning municipalities—and a report by NTT DATA Institute of Management Consulting (2022) [2] that surveyed diverse municipal conditions, the study organizes internal and external environments and derives strategies using a cross-SWOT analysis. The proposed measures—ICT standardization, regular IT training, and an er-ror-checking system—aim to achieve a swift, fair certification process and bolster the sustainability of the long-term care insurance system.

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