Apologies for cross posting!
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Local Economy Policy Unit and LETSLink UK
Two Day Event, 3rd and 4th November 1999 in London
"Complementary currencies: latest developments in LETS and Time
Money".
Local Exchange Trading Schemes are beginning to become a familiar part
of the local economic development landscape. Central government,
particularly through the Social Exclusion Unit and SRB5 guidelines
gives a new prominence to different ways of thinking about alternative
forms of money. Many communities have developed their own LETS
schemes, local authorities have helped develop others. Some have
prospered for nearly 10 years, others have found the going hard. We
are beginning to understand when complementary currencies work best
with the mainstream, when the mainstream is more appropriate, and when
complementary currencies have benefits above those of traditional
approaches.
Newer uses of the LETS concept, especially in the United States, have
helped our understanding take on a wider conception of 'complementary
currencies' such as 'time money' in community care and for residents
on housing estates, business to business trading, currencies for
voluntary and community organisations, and 'training pounds' enabling
people to access mainstream training resources.
This seminar brings together top researchers and practitioners from
this exciting and still developing area of economic development to
review experience to date, identify which of the early hopes and
dreams have born fruit, and what has not worked as we expected. Our
speakers will discuss their hands on experience of working with a
range of complementary currencies from business to business trading to
working on outer estates.
The Programme:
Day one is aimed at statutory organisations interested in developing
uses of complementary currencies, and those already working in the
field who want to hear about latest best practice. Attendance of day
one entitles participants to come to day 2, a networking day, which is
run in partnership with the Local Authority LETS Information Exchange
(LALIE). Attendance at day two is free for those who came to day one.
Those who wish to come only to day two - the networking day - can come
for the special price of £25.00.
Day One: LEPU seminar
10.00 Opening remarks Chair: Peter North
Research Fellow, LEPU
10.05 Welcome: The Parliamentary Campaign on LETS.
Linda Gilroy MP, Labour and Co-operative, Plymouth Sutton
10.15 The story so far. What's working? What could we do better?
Liz Shephard, Co-ordinator, LETSLink UK
10.40 Questions and discussion
11.00 Tea and Coffee
11.20 . LETS and social exclusion
Colin Williams, University of Leicester
11.50 Questions and discussion
12.10 Time Money: lessons from America
David Boyle, The New Economics Foundation
12.40 Questions and discussion
13.00 Lunch
14.00 LETS, training and business: organisational uses for
complementary currencies. David Williams, LIFT Ltd
14.20 Questions and discussion
14.40 LETS in low income communities and inner city housing estates.
Jan Hurst, London Borough of Greenwich.
15.00 Questions and Discussion
15.20 Tea and Coffee
15.40 Joining it up locally: getting the best of the alternative
approaches.
Stefania Strega, Peckham Hourbank, Southwark LETS.
16.10 Questions and discussion
16.25 Closing remarks: Peter North
Day Two: Local Authority LETS Information Exchange networking day.
10.0 Introduction: Peter North
10.15 Local Councils and LETS: where are we going? What could we
do? Liz Shephard, LETSLink UK
10.30 Questions and discussion - what do we want to get out of the
day?
11.0 Tea and Coffee
11.15 Lessons for LETS developments from New Zealand and the United
States: report of research trip
Peter North, LEPU
11.45 Questions and discussion
12.00 LETS and the Social Exclusion Unit
John Mills, LETS team, Liverpool City Council
12.20 Questions and discussion
12.45 Lunch
13.45 Open space: workshops and discussion groups to meet your
needs. Workshops will include:
· Facilitating LETS Development
John Cushen: LETS Development worker, Vale of Glamorgan (tbc)
· LETS and social exclusion: lessons from latest research
Theresa Aldridge, Queen Mary and Westfield College.
· Time Money: how do we take it forward?
Sarah Burns, The New Economics Foundation
__.. and others - you decide what you want to see, and make it happen!
15.00 Local Authorities and the LETS community_.how can we work
better tegether?
Kevin Munnelly, London Borough of Merton
15.20 Questions and discussion
15.30 Tea and Coffee
15.50 Where do we go from here? Open discussion.
Peter North, LEPU
16.30 Close
The Speakers
Liz Shephard is co-ordinator of LETSLink UK, the UK LETS development
agency which she established in 1989. Liz will introduce the seminar
with an overview of the development of LETS and other forms of
complementary currency over the past 10 years, and share her
understanding of ways complementary currencies have been shown to be
particularly effective.
Colin Williams is a senior lecturer at the Department of Geography,
University of Liecester, and has written extensively about social
exclusion, informal economies, and complementary currencies. With
colleagues he has been engaged in a major two year research project
about LETS and social exclusion. Colin will discuss ways that
complementary currencies have been show to be particularly effective
ijn rebuilding communities, and in helping participants raise their
confidence and skills as a way out of exclusion.
David Boyle is an Associate of the New Economics Foundation, former
editor of Town and Country Planning, and a journalist. He recently
completed a study fellowship to the United States looking at US
experience of complementary currencies: later published as "Funny
Money: in search of alternative cash". David will discuss lessons of
the US experience and latest development in the use of Time Money in
the UK.
David Williams set up two LETS and two Credit Unions in West London
and has worked for many years in community action. He is now managing
director of LIFT Ltd (Local Interest Free Trading), a consultancy
company working internationally on creating local money. He is
currently working with the New Economics Foundation on uses of
complementary currency for training and internal markets. David will
examine ways that institutions can integrate use of complementary
currencies within wider economic development strategies. .
Jan Hurst has been LETS development worker for the London Borough of
Greenwich since 1996. Since then she has worked with local people
and community organisations to establish four neighbourhood LETS
schemes, a borough wide LETS for organisations, and a LETS run by
disabled people for disabled people, their friends and family. Jan
will relate her experiences of developing LETS in low income
communities including supporting people to join, run and develop
LETS, assisting people to problem solve issues, raising the profile
of LETS borough wide, and community networking to include the
excluded.
Stefania Strega has been a member of Southwark LETS since 1994, and is
founder and co-ordinator of Southwarks' award winning community-led
sustainable regeneration charity Green Adventure. She is a member of
Greater London Enterprise's expert panel on community economic
development, and project officer for Peckham Hourbank, which is
establishing Time Money in Peckham. Building on her experiences of
working with a both LETS and Time Money, Stefania will show how the
best elements of both approaches can be combined to meet the diverse
needs of different groups in society.
Key Issues
· How useful are we finding LETS as a tool for combating social
exclusion? Is this through entry to paid work, or more through
raising skill levels, increasing confidence, and building feelings of
community.
· What are the barriers to developing complementary currencies? How
can we overcome them?
· What sorts of complementary currency work best in what sorts of
environment, and why?
· What are the lessons from experience in the United States?
· How can we join things up locally, to ensure that different forms of
currency support complement each other and the mainstream money
economy. Who should attend?
· Community economic development workers from local authorities, SRB
partnerships, New Deal for Communities, Employment Zones interested in
supporting communities to develop complementary currencies.
· Health workers, community and voluntary organisations, business
representative and support organisations such as TECs, Business Links
and Chambers of Commerce interested in using complementary currencies
themselves.
· Members of LETS schemes and Time Money projects.
· Consultants and academics.
Costs:
The cost of the whole seminar, days one and two, is £150 for statutory
organisations, £65 for voluntary organisations. For day two only the
cost is £25.00.
Bookings: to
e-mail [log in to unmask]
phone: 0171-815 7706
fax: 0171-815 7799
LEPU
South Bank University
Wandsworth Road
London
SW8 2JZ
_________________________________________
Peter North
Local Economy Policy Unit
South Bank University, London
Tel: 0171-815 7706
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
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