THURSDAY 27 Introductory Session. 2 times to choose from 8.30am – 12.pm OR 7pm – 9.30pm.

FRIDAY 28 Full Day 8.30am – 5.00pm.

Note: Participation in the introductory session on Thursday is highly recommended.

Fees: Thursday only $30: Full Programme (Thursday and Friday) $60 - $100 sliding scale.
Subsidy available for students / beneficiaries / hardship - please enquire. Payment in local currency optional.

Morning and afternoon teas provided. BYO lunch.

Bookings essential (download information and registration form EXPLORING LOCAL CURRENCIES_Reg.form2.doc (43.01 Kb)
Registrar: Linnéa Lindstroem: ccwellets@gmail.com, Phone 0210 484 858 or Helen Dew: email helend@contact.net.nz, Phone 06 379 8034

Brought to you by
LIVING ECONOMIES Educational Trust
in association with LETS NZ
Wairarapa LETS
Permaculture in New Zealand (PiNZ)
Transition Towns
See also www.transitionaotearoa.org.nz,
Transition Currencies
and Smart Planet NZ

To download a poster supporting the workshop, click on Poster_Wgtn wkshop.pdf (182.13 Kb)

MORE INFORMATION

In a culture where the means of exchange is dominated by supranational and national currencies like the US dollar and the Euro most people fail to appreciate the potential power of currencies designed for regional and local use, believes Living Economies spokeswoman Helen Dew , organiser of the Wellington workshop.

“Local currency and bartering systems help to create empowerment and resilience in communities by enabling the trading of goods and services without relying entirely on the national money system.

“This helps people get their needs met locally, which is often more environmentally desirable, creates opportunities and builds social capital in communities,” she said.

Mrs Dew expects the workshop to attract interested people and groups from around Wellington and the lower North Island.

The Thursday introductory sessions will introduce complementary currencies, what they are, how they work and will briefly touch on the comprehensive range of currency systems that have been developed worldwide to meet different needs.

The Friday full day programme will feature presenters from around New Zealand who will talk about three different and complementary systems being piloted in different New Zealand communities...

Project Lyttelton Chair Margaret Jefferies will talk about Lyttelton’s TIME BANK – the first one in New Zealand. Time Banks harness the wide range of skills in a community and everyone’s time is equal. One hour equals one hour, no matter what the service. Time Banking has special software which publishes services offered and requested and trades are recorded as time credits and debits. The presentation will explain what a Time Bank is, how it works, and look at the huge potential that opens up when people share their skills within their community.

Bryan Innes from Coromandel will speak on the GENUINE WEALTH SYSTEM, a scheme whereby people pool savings to then create access to interest-free purchase finance. Pooled savings are used to finance members’ purchases based on need prioritised by the group, and the purchase cost is repaid in affordable instalments along with an equivalent amount of compulsory savings until the balance is reached. The savings may be withdrawn at the end of the term, but meanwhile the pool may be accessed by other members of the group. The pilot of this initiative has enabled a family to build a house. Bryan and his partner Jo Pearsall are leading proponents of Permaculture in this country and are founders / organisers of the national EcoShows.

Laurence Boomert will take participants through NZ’s most widely used form of community currency: LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) - also known as green dollars. Laurence was the original founder of the NZ Environmental Business Network – (now the SBN) and currently works on a range of Relocalization tools.

Auckland’s Living Economies board member Peter Luiten will carry on from Laurence to examine why LET systems in New Zealand have never found general acceptance among retailers and the wider business community. Living Economies contends that, despite their current reputation as fringe phenomena and disappointments at that, LET systems have a great deal to offer New Zealand’s businesses and their customers - not least those in each town’s central business district. Peter will consider the essential design and management principles to which a sustainable LETS must conform.

Recommended preliminary reading:

Thomas H. Greco, Jr, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, Chelsea Green Publishing 2009. ($39 + $4 pp)
Thomas H. Greco, Jr, Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2001. ($35 + $4 pp)
Edgar S Cahn, No More Throw-Away? People- The co-production imperative, Essential Books, 2004. (These books are available from Living Economies: info@le.org.nz phone 06 379 8034)