Minkay

Strengthening social cohesion through community currencies and timebanking. -- Timebanking is a community currency concept in which time, typically hours, are used as unit of account. Services provided for in the context of time banking are valued according to the time it takes to deliver them, regardless of who does it or what the “market value” is. Time Banks are typically community-run organizations that turn unpaid time into a valuable commodity, build social capital and promote community self-help through mutual volunteering (both giving and receiving help in exchange for time credits). Five Core Values: 1. Asset: We are all assets and we all have something to give. 2. Redefining Work: Some work is beyond price but needs to be honored. 3. Reciprocity: Helping works better as a two-way street. 4. Social Networks: We need each other, to reweave communities of support, strength & trust. 5. Respect: Every human being matters. Research on the social impacts of joining a time bank illustrate there are both social and physical advantages to membership. For instance, “members have had help with issues such as dealing with unmanageable gardens, provision of childcare and lifts to local shops”. On the social side, being an active member has proven to be effective to ‘reduce social isolation, increase local networks and enable to feel part of a local community’.