Time banks, five years on
Regeneration and Renewal , 16 May 2003
David Boyle
How do you encourage healthy living in the Gorbals area of Glasgow? Well, first, you embed yourself in the local community � and that�s easier said than done. But the South-East Area Lifestyle Group (Seal) found an effective way of doing so: it linked up with the Gorbals Time Bank, run by local regeneration organisation the Gorbals Initiative.
By lending its minibus to the time bank, Seal earned �time credits� which it then �spent� on three time bank volunteers to drive the minibus, carry out administrative work and run a local primary school breakfast club. In doing so, Seal also developed links with the local Youth and Community Theatre. This exchanges tickets to its productions for time credits, which it spends on producing and printing its quarterly newsletter. The annual Gorbals Fair is also involved, exchanging credits for help with floats, stalls and the parade.
It sounds like local barter, but actually there�s something more going on. By linking into the time bank, Seal has connected with a wide network of local projects, and is able to measure and reward the efforts of people who never normally volunteer � and sometimes believe that they have nothing to offer.
Community time banking has been around in the UK for five years now; the idea was first piloted in Gloucester. There are now more than 130 time banks at various stages of development around the UK, and a great deal of expertise has been accumulated about where the idea works best, where it hasn�t worked, and where it has been misunderstood.
You can now find time banks linking schoolchildren and elderly people together through a volunteering centre in Suffolk. Or rewarding participation in community forum meetings in Leicester. Or bringing people with and without learning difficulties together to share time in Brighton. Or providing asylum-seekers with a hot meal once a week in Peckham, in return for taking part as equals in local community work.
Research at the University of East Anglia has confirmed that time banks manage to involve people that traditional volunteering � and regeneration schemes � often fail to reach. Time banking has attracted some support from the Government, and the approach is attractive to funders who are looking for a �secret ingredient� that might increase local trust and make community involvement work.
The purpose is uncontroversial, though it is clear that time banks work best in diverse communities � if people have different needs, it provides a better basis for mutual support. However, there has sometimes been local resistance from what might be called �stubborn traditionalists�.
Distrust can be rooted in mutual suspicion between local voluntary groups, which can restrict the opportunities for �time trading� and put people off the project. It can involve suspicion on the part of officials, who are sometimes fearful of mutual support networks. Indeed, even regeneration professionals are occasionally suspicious of the concept.
In part, this is because there is an agenda behind time banks; they can transform public services � both by giving them a more human face, and by letting beneficiaries work alongside professionals. It is an agenda that organisers have sometimes found difficult to communicate effectively to officials or funders.
This transformation is evident, for example, at the Rushey Green Group Practice�s time bank in Catford, where patients work alongside surgery staff to improve health and the welcome offered by the health centre. In Newcastle, communities clean the street and remove graffiti in exchange for time credits. Again, their efforts are measured and rewarded.
The question projects such as these raise is: to what extent are public service providers prepared to listen, learn, and genuinely involve those whom they seek to serve? Surely service users are the people who know most about how services should be provided, because they are on the receiving end of them?
Research carried out last year by Dr Isabel Garcia at Rushey Green shows that there are health benefits for those involved in a time bank, especially those who suffer from mental and physical difficulties. But it is a challenging message to communicate to professionals who have to meet targets and budgets that are so geared to existing techniques that they do not recognise radical solutions like time banks.
Where time banks have not survived, often despite useful and innovative work, it has usually been due to a lack of sustainable funding. They are no more expensive to run than traditional volunteering, but they do require a dedicated member of staff. This is partly a problem with current funding regimes, which often fund new projects but refuse to support the steady, consistent good work that is needed to bring about sustainable change. And public services, which are often the financial beneficiaries of successful time banks � through better health or fewer prescriptions, for example � are not currently asked or expected to contribute to the costs of running time banks.
Despite this, time banks are now embedded in schools, housing estates, health centres, Sure Start programmes and health promotion projects. It is sometimes hard for officials to understand that time banks are a method of building communities which can be adapted to tackle any issue where people�s active involvement is required.
Where they work best inside public services, there are other opportunities too. These include informal and more formal learning opportunities � such as basic skills coaching in people�s homes, computer tuition, and community college courses in hair braiding � through which individuals can both learn new skills, and spend their time credits on accessing goods and services.
The point is that time banks offer a way to sustain and reward community involvement � and you can measure this involvement. Counting the credits means you can show how much time has gone on different activities, and how much community involvement there has been in an area.
Time banks are generally local and small � usually with 80 to 100 participants. They grow by budding off and forming new time banks, rather than empire-building. They then develop into networks. Fair Shares runs a network of seven time banks across Gloucestershire. In Glasgow there are now five, and London has 26. So a regional focus is needed in the future, as well as national support � which is provided by Time Banks UK, the resource and signpost for all things time banking.
So community time banking has challenges to face. It also has enormous potential for community engagement and developing social capital, based on the idea that everyone � the elderly, refugees and people with depression, for example, as well as younger and able-bodied members of the community � has something to offer. If regeneration is going to work, we will need to tap into the skills, time and motivation of all these groups.
David Boyle is a senior associate at think-tank the New Economics Foundation, which is involved in supporting the development of time banks.
A successful use of time:
Potter Street, Worksop
The Potter Street Project is a quick access, short-stay housing project for homeless people, run by the Framework Housing Association. Residents earn time credits for cleaning, painting and decorating, administration, participating in and supporting the centre�s football team, visiting the drug users� needle exchange, and attending support meetings. They can use their credits to pay a weekly service charge, and to buy haircuts, clothing, meals, access to sports facilities, and refurbished furniture. Time bank initiator Graham Gardiner says: �It�s about respect, valuing skills, and realising aspirations. We�re exploring new ways to involve people in our services, and rewarding them for their time.�
Rushey Green Group Practice, Catford
One volunteer (left) came here from Turkey as a refugee in the late 1980s, but ill-health forced him to give up his job as a bus driver. His doctor suggested that he might like to take part in the time bank at the health centre. He is able to earn time credits for gardening and DIY, and he trades them in for help with his written English. Recently he was given a refurbished computer in recognition of the many hours he has contributed to the bank. Mehmet has now gained confidence and taken a minibus driving test, leading to a part-time job with a community transport scheme.
Angell Town Time Bank, Brixton
The Angell Town
Time Bank (left) concentrates on providing activities for young people on a south London estate which has few such opportunities. Time credits are earned for attending workshops in subjects such as drama, creative writing, art, yoga and computing, and can be spent on learning skills such as hair braiding. Time bank participants can also be awarded refurbished computers when they reach a target number of time credits.
The Time Exchange, Arthur�s Hill, Newcastle
The Time Exchange has been thriving for three years in an area that is isolated by poor public transport. Though the population is enormously diverse and includes dispersed asylum seekers, the exchange has managed to bridge cultural divides through highly-visible community activities such as festivals and street cleans. Local businesses give discounts for participants, which are paid in time credits.
Time banking in a nutshell:
* Time banking uses time as a �currency�. One hour equals one time credit.
* Both individuals and organisations can join.
* People offer their time and skills, and spend their earned credits on the time of those who have skills that they lack � or simply to save themselves chores that they don�t enjoy. �Skills� can range from buying a pint of milk to delivering leaflets, financial advice to telephone support.
* A paid broker coordinates the system and links people up to make exchanges.
* A time bank rewards all activities equally: an hour of cleaning is valued the same as an hour of legal advice.
* It is a mutual form of volunteering. Giving and receiving are equally valued, and both are needed for a time bank to work. As such, it reduces one-way dependence and stimulates interdependence.
* It is a social development tool for expanding social capital. It rewards and encourages participation.
* Details are available from Time Banks UK, (tel) 0870 7027428, (email) [email protected] or visit www.timebanks.co.uk. See also The Time of Our Lives, by Gill Seyfang and Karen Smith, published by the New Economics Foundation/UEA, 2002.
