Last Saturday over 40 people gathered at the Bowling Club to learn and share how to make our Raglan local economy more resilient in the face of the negative effects of the global economy.
It became apparent that there are various ways to achieve holistic and sustainable systems of exchange and investment in Raglan. The more local initiatives in place, the stronger and healthier our community becomes.
The Economies for People event was hosted by Raglan Timebank. Timebanks use time as the unit of exchange and everyone’s time is valued equally. Our Raglan Timebank has been active for 10 years and has a close partnership with Whāingaroa Environment Centre. We invited Bryan Innes from Living Economies (https://livingeconomies.nz) to facilitate this special event. Bryan has an impressive depth of knowledge and expertise about empowering local economies.
In addition to timebanking, we discussed savings pools, land trusts and local currencies. Raglan currently has two savings pools that involve a group of people sharing savings to loan to one another interest-free. There was considerable interest in expanding the existing pools and possibly creating more. There are ongoing discussions about land sharing and community living options. Local currency is an exciting option for strengthening local resources and networks and buffering against financial crises.
Many of the participants had knowledge and expertise in local systems and it was inspiring to see the connection of like-minded and passionate people who are keen to work together to keep our wealth within Raglan. For further information please contact the following:
Timebank: Tania Ashman: timebank@whaingaroa.org.nz
Savings Pools: Etai Gilad: lovinglife@gmail.com
Local Currencies: Etai Gilad: lovinglife@gmail.com
Land Share/community living: Pippa Hayes: pippajhayes@gmail.com
