TIMEBANKIT information sheet no. 2

Core Values and Co-Production

The concept of time banking was developed through the work done by Edgar Cahn, an American civil rights lawyer and social justice activist. In the 1980s, he argued that alongside the conventional market economy, where money drives transactions, there is the non-market economy which we mostly take for granted. The non-market economy comprises all those vital social networks and activities in our communities that provide us with friends, family, a sense of belonging, safe neighbourhoods, care for others and personal value.

Time banking is one way of rebuilding and enhancing social networks and activities in the non-market economy. It's a tool that enables people to make that contribution to others that the non-market economy needs in order to function. Edgar Cahn's work outlines four core values that underpin time banking initiatives, these are:-

People are Assets -. The real wealth of any society is its people and everyone is valuable and has something to contribute.

Redefining Work - All work is valuable, whether paid or unpaid. Activites such as bringing up children, caring for people who are marginalized, contributing to and participating in the delivery of state services, keeping communities safe, fighting injustice and making democracy work have to be recognised, rewarded and counted as real work.

Reciprocity - both giving and receiving are important. We need each other and giving and receiving are the basic building blocks of positive social relationships and healthy communities.

Social Capital - Healthy communities have healthy social networks. Belonging to a mutually supportive and secure social network brings meaning to our lives, promotes health and wellbeing and provides new opportunites to rebuild our trust in one another.

Co-production is the term used to describe those reciprocal activities that patients, clients, service users and others undertake with professionals in order to produce an effective service. This moves away from the idea of the undervalued and passive individual who is the recipient of public services and who is percieved only in terms of their "needs" towards an approach which focuses on people as active creators of services with skills and assets. As such, co-production neatly links to time accreditation, one from of putting value to the vital work that people do in their communities. Time banking, as a form of time accredited co-production, is a tool which can enable the core values to be achieved.