65280 OCTOBER 2011 ABOUT THE AUTHORS Time Banking™ Is More Than Money for ANGANA SHAH is an IFC consultant in the Women in Senegal Investment Advisory Services team. She has worked Time Banking™ has been used in the United States since the 1980s to extensively with USAID and the World Bank Group. leverage social assistance funding. Time Banking™ engages a community in creating its own reform and progress by establishing a system of exchanging PAPE SAMB time and skills among community members. Time is exchanged on the basis is the Director for Programs for Africa & Freedom Endowment of Time Credits, a currency of exchange that measures each person’s time at Phelps Stokes, a fund that contribution, rewards it, and thus encourages further contributions of time. supports the empowerment of marginalized populations in The result is that skills and assets within the community are tapped, and Africa. Pape was one of the original founders of GRADES. economic activity is increased. There are numerous applications of this flexible tool—this alterative currency. It is being applied in the UK, Japan, and other parts of the world. This SmartLesson looks at the application of Time Banking in a developing country, Senegal, and suggests its potential to leverage development assistance funds through incorporation into program design. Background A Vocational Training Center is established in products, health, nutrition, and French and an impoverished town in Senegal in 1995 Wolof literacy. There is also a center that pro- vides day-care services as well as preschool When Pape Samb started Groupe de Réflex- education that includes French- and Arabic- ion et d’Action pour le Développement du Sé- language instruction. négal (GRADES), he was trying to help his mother and the other women in the village When GRADES started in 1995, approximately find more economic freedom and more time 55 women took the training courses, and for themselves. GRADES was established to about 50 children attended the pre-school/ provide skills training and basic education to day-care center. Women’s household duties enable undereducated women and girls to and conservative attitudes in the community become economically self-sufficient and con- — particularly among their husbands and the tribute to stronger communities. religious leader — conspired to curtail partici- pation, thus diminishing the impact of the GRADES started as one training center in 1995 center. The numbers did not expand substan- in Kaolack, a conservative, impoverished tially until 2005. town. There was little access to formal educa- tion, 60 percent unemployment, and few, if Since Time Banking™ was introduced in 2005, any, job prospects for residents. GRADES was GRADES has grown immensely both in size created to provide training and educational and scope. As of 2009–2010, nearly 50,000 in- activities that improved skills and created em- dividuals have completed nutrition, health, ployment opportunities. The hope was it and HIVAIDS awareness training; almost 500 would also serve to unite communities and students have completed the day-care pro- empower women and girls. Classes past and gram and received a foundation in numeracy, present include knitting, sewing and tailoring, French, and Arabic. The literacy program has embroidery, tie-dyeing, computer literacy, graduated 900 students, while nearly 52,000 business skills, transformation of local individuals have received business skills and SMARTLESSONS — OCTOBER 2011 1 product development training. For 1,250 graduates of the helped to pay the operating costs that required cash. Time three-year course in tailoring, the average increase in Banking has allowed GRADES to become sustainable on an monthly income has been from $20 per month to $100– ongoing basis. GRADES has grown to 13 campuses, and $200 per month. Some 500 jobs have been created. GRADES Time Banking is an important feature in the economic via- has impacted the incomes of the participants and the com- bility of each of the centers. munity at large. The fact that traditional beliefs that have restricted women are being transformed is undeniable. Time Banking™ and its alternative currency are introduced in 2004-2005 In 2004, Pape came to the United States and learned about Time Banking. Time Banking™ is a system whereby a com- munity (members of the Time Bank) creates a currency of Time Credits in order to exchange services among them- selves. One Hour = One Time Credit. The concept is as de- ceptively simple as it is powerful. To start a Time Bank, each member of the community iden- tifies needs that he or she can address. The community Men at GRADES translates the service performed by the individual into Time Credits. For example, women may provide babysitting ser- vices or hair braiding, or work in the day care center. Each Lessons Learned hour of service earns the woman Time Credits. Service to the community also earns Time Credits. For example, if a 1) Expect resistance, and find practical ways of gaining woman creates a literacy club for young girls in the com- acceptance within a conservative community; inclusion munity, the woman will receive one Time Credit for each is key. hour that she spends with it. Time Credits can be exchanged for services for the woman or her family, or for extra hours GRADES faced two major obstacles within Kaolack’s conser- in the computer-training center or sewing center, or other vative community: the men and the religious leader of the GRADES resources. community. The men objected to the women’s absence, since they were accustomed to having them in the home to As an alternative currency, Time Banking functions differ- attend to them. The religious leader was accustomed to ently than money. Time Credits put women’s work on a par community members paying tribute to him through labor with men’s work, when exchanged in the Time Bank, hour at his farm. However, once Time Banking was introduced, for hour. Time Credits are not fungible, like cash. They can the women preferred to spend their free time on activities be spent only within the community, and only for services. that earned Time Credits, thus accruing benefits and ser- They are less susceptible to “waste� within the family, and vices for their own families. are less susceptible to “corruption� on a broader commu- nity scale. Women often expressed a preference for earn- Winning over the men/husbands ing Time Credits versus cash. Cash potentially led to family In order to earn their support and trust, the men were in- fights over control of the money. Time Credits ensured that cluded in the planning and incorporation of the Time Bank the value of what women had earned with their labor into GRADES and into the community. They were offered would come back to the family. the opportunity to earn Time Credits themselves, if they ob- jected to the women leaving the house to earn them. The When Pape brought Time Banking to the center, the men tended to stay with their cash-generating activities but GRADES group became a community of Time Bank mem- were nevertheless a part of the system. They experienced bers that both ran and participated in classes at the training firsthand the benefits of access to the day-care center: it center. The women exchanged services to help each other educated their children and freed up men’s and women’s free up time to attend classes. Women also earned Time time to pursue economic activity. As the Time Bank was Credits by helping to operate the center — by teaching developed and began operating, the men began to see the classes, working in the day care, and so forth. Time Credits benefits. Services were available to the family. After com- became the only currency of exchange among members of pleting training, the women were able to add to family in- GRADES. come. By being involved in the planning process and seeing the benefits over time, the men grew to accept GRADES Once Time Banking was introduced, GRADES began to and the Time Bank. grow. The latent assets, skills, time, and talents of commu- nity members in Kaolack were activated, and they were Winning over the religious leader used to support and even enhance the services provided by The religious leader had long benefited from a system of GRADES. The costs of operation were reduced and services obligations that accorded him the labor of the community. were expanded. Enrollment increased significantly. Stu- The approach to obtaining his approval was more straight- dents outside of the Time Bank paid fees to attend classes, forward. He was granted 100 Time Credits per month to thus significantly increasing GRADES’ revenue, which use for help on his farm. Community members again of- 2 SMARTLESSONS — OCTOBER 2011 fered services to the religious leader; they earned Time Credits for helping him. Since the religious leader was once again materially supported, he too became supportive of the program. 2) The time-based currency empowers women; every- one benefits. On the most basic individual level, Time Banking allows women to help each other with the duties of women every- where — household and child-rearing work. Women also honed their skills, both those that they were donating and also through the training they purchased with Time Credits. Mother and child at GRADES As they graduated from the program, they were able to contribute to GRADES by teaching — again, for Time Cred- its. The Senegalese government even began recruiting Secondly, exchanges do not involve direct negotiation teachers from the GRADES program, providing some between provider and recipient of services. Services women salary-paying employment. need not be negotiated between two particular mem- bers. The way that requests for services and offers for At the community level, Time Banking was helpful, too. services are listed, one may earn Time Credits helping Women and girls began to come together to discuss one member, then spend them by requesting services their issues. Before GRADES, they were isolated in their from another, or even from a public service provider. homes, and men exercised control over their activities. With GRADES, and the ability of the women to bring as- Thirdly, Time Banks “pay it forward.� Unlike barter, which sets into the family, the women were not as restricted in keeps the economic benefits between the parties to the their movements. They now commune and share con- transaction, Time Credits earned may be used to benefit cerns, problems, and solutions. the broader community; they may serve a particular social purpose (such as a reform goal), or produce a particular Before the Time Bank was established, free time or time public good (roads, public space revamp/ clean-up/mainte- away from cash-generating activities was spent in idle nance, elder care, vocational training center, etc). chit-chat, card games, and so on. Once an hour of free time became an opportunity to earn Time Credits, eco- 4) As an empowerment tool, Time Credits trump nomic activity increased, and free time was more often money. used productively to generate services and resources for families within the community. Moreover, these eco- In Kaolack, cash was a scarce resource, as it is in many nomic activities that were based on time exchange en- communities. Time Banking created a currency that hanced community ties. Members did not have to leave brought resources to GRADES and was preferred by the village to collect resources for their families. many women as payment for their services. The experi- ence at GRADES and elsewhere highlights some of the As described above, GRADES has greatly expanded the fundamental differences between Time Banking and the earning power of many community members, and it broader economy that runs on money. would not have been able to reach as many community members without the Time Bank; thus the Time Bank has Money is all-purpose. It may be used for food or for facilitated skilled economic activity by members. gambling, for education or for drugs; in other words, it is subject to being squandered. Time Credits have a more 3) Time Banking is very different from barter. limited purpose, and the goods for which they can be exchanged are defined by the community, the Time Many, upon hearing about Time Banking for the first Bank. time, comment “Oh, it’s barter.� It is worthwhile noting that Time Banking is emphatically not barter; Time Bank- ing is fundamentally different, and truly creates an al- Time Banking ternative currency— an alternative and flexible medium • Values and utilizes the existing skill-set/assets within the of exchange that can support an economic system— community rather than a simple transaction between two entities. • Allows beneficiaries and reformers to truly build the desired change together Time banking differs from barter in several ways: Firstly, • Creates access to services and skills without cash the time of each member is valued equally, regardless of • Allows stakeholders/community members to take market value. If barter were the basis of exchange, the ownership of initiatives that improve their lives market value of the goods exchanged would be part of the transaction. Instead, Time Credits consider one hour of any member’s time equivalent to one hour of any other member’s time. Thus women’s work and men’s Moreover, money is fungible, and thus mobile, and can work is on a par. leave the community through corruption or simply to SMARTLESSONS — OCTOBER 2011 3 Day care center children seek interest and a better return. Time Conclusion Credits are by definition locally anchored in how they are earned and how they are There are alternatives to payment of money spent. and calls for volunteerism to create stakehold- er participation in reform. Lack of money is a Furthermore, money values scarcity; the constant complaint in development program- scarcer a commodity, the higher its price. ming, yet practitioners acknowledge the tru- Thus, everyday activities such as child rear- ism that “simply throwing money at a prob- ing and other basic household economic lem does not solve it.� By incorporating a activity, usually performed by women, are Time Bank into GRADES, and into the sur- devalued. Time Credits restore value to ev- rounding community that supports GRADES, eryday activities by placing the value on Pape helped to bypass the lack of cash in his the time spent by the individual on the ac- impoverished community. The lesson that tivities involved. other development practitioners can take is that the poor have assets, as Hernando de Time Banking creates an economic sys- Soto has long claimed; they simply need the tem that values assets devalued by the mechanisms by which to use them. market/cash economy, and fills needs that the market does not. Value is ac- Can Time Banking be used in the develop- corded a woman with years of childcare ment-programming context to solve some of experience, an elder with valuable the recurring problems when undertaking knowledge but without a marketable community activities involving women living degree, an extra hour at the end of a on the margin? The Senegal example certain- day that can’t be leveraged for “em- ly suggests that it can. DISCLAIMER ployment� but can be used to provide a SmartLessons is an awards neighbor a service. People can earn Time program to share lessons learned in development-oriented advisory Credits that can be spent on something services and investment the provider might not be able to afford operations. The findings, with money, based on market rates. The interpretations, and conclusions process of earning and spending Time expressed in this paper are those Credits releases social capital that the of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IFC market and money have left untapped. or its partner organizations, the The exchange of Time Credits perpetu- Executive Directors of The World ates itself, and results in a multiplier ef- Bank or the governments they fect that can be favorably compared to represent. IFC does not assume any responsibility for the that of money in terms of benefits to completeness or accuracy of the the local economy and community. information contained in this document. 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