Setting Objectives, cont.
Social Purpose Currencies
The bulk of the social purpose currencies are highly focused on specific
problems or social classes, ranging from elderly care to unemployment or
educational currencies. Here are some examples.
Elderly Care: The very first post WW2 complementary currencies systems
were conceived in 1950 by and for women in Japan1 for the care of elderly,
children and handicapped persons. They also created the first “Volunteer
Labor Bank” in 1978, a prototype that was later reinvented in the West as
Time Banks in the US and the UK in particular. In Japan, the Fureai Kippu
system is today the direct descendant of those earlier pioneering systems.
Retirees: Some of the first Time Dollar applications in the US were
implemented by Edgar Cahn in retirement homes and encouraged self-help
activities among retirees. It also resulted in creating a stronger community
feeling.
Unemployed: The first LETS systems originated in Canada in 1982 aimed
specifically at addressing the problem of currency scarcity in areas with high
unemployment. Still today, a majority of LETS tend to be more widespread in
high unemployment areas.
Educational: The MUSE system (Mutual Unit for Sustainable Education) is
a complementary currency designed for stimulating learning and teaching by
youngsters among each other.2 The Sonoma County, California, Community
Service Dollar (C$D) is being developed under the guidance of the nonprofit
Skaggs Island Foundation. Both state university and city officials are
exploring the possible value of the system for partial payment for educational
and other public services and, in the latter case, for taxes and fees.
Child Care (Babysitting): There is a long tradition of more or less formal
but small scale local babysitting groups constituted by families who in turn
take care of each other’s children. A large national-scale Internet-based
system is being designed now in Holland, under the name of “Care Miles” to
help the 2.3 million families who have trouble finding access to the care
centers, particularly for the 0-4 year olds.3
1 The first post-war complementary currency pioneer in chronological order was
Teruko Mizushima, who was born in 1920 in Osaka. She wrote in 1950 a visionary article about a
“Labor Bank”, a paper that was honored at that time with the Newspaper Companies’ Prize.
2 See Lietaer, Bernard Die Welt des Geldes: das Aufklärungsbuch (Würzburg: Arenaerlag, 2002).
3 The organization involved is called Regeltante: see www.regeltante.nl
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