Description
Due to the high unemployment rate and low salaries, Harghita county of Romania is facing financial shortage for everyday life. The objective of the project is to establish a network of mutual voluntary help - the Time Bank system - where the time counts instead of money. The project is expected to build and strengthen the community spirit by rebuilding cooperation networks and to increase trust among community members. 24 communities will be mobilized through 48 community meetings, a network will be established , an online Time Bank platform, where at least 150 registered users can cooperate and help each other. The main beneficiaries of the project will be members of communities in Odorhei Region, Harghita county, Romania, who will register in the Time Bank system as users. The Hungarian project partner - Children and Youth Association BAZIS - will contribute with its many years experience in the field of voluntary work, community development and alternative economies.
Summary of project results
The project’s slogan “Getting is happiness, giving means love!’’ expresses very concisely the concept this project is built upon, which says that the relationships between the members of a society do not need to be based on rules imposed by money and that helping each other unconditionally results in happiness, satisfaction and in a superior spiritual state. Time Bank theory was implemented for the first time in Romania by Civitas Foundation for the Civil Society, through this project. It created the opportunity for the population of 24 municipalities and 3 towns around Odorheiu Secuiesc to join a system where relationships based on providing services in exchange for money are replaced by relationships based on exchanging time. This model of cohabitation is not new to the people, especially not in the rural areas and it was characteristic to Odorhei region’s population’s way of living. The Time Bank is taking these local traditions further and develops the idea of the voluntary co-operative work and good collaborative relationships between the neighbours within the frame of a system built with modern technologies. Not so long ago people were building their houses and doing the farming work together. In order to disseminate the Time Bank philosophy during the 23 months of the implementation period, a wide range of efforts has been made. Besides the usual promoting channels (almost 50 articles in the printed and electronic press, 95 broadcasts of the radio spot and the promotion films, 3,000 leaflets, 1,000 brochures, 160 posters, 50 personalized T-shirts, web page and Facebook page), project staff met the people in person. They travelled 60 times to different settlements in the region to present the Time Bank to the communities, having the supportive help of enthusiastic volunteers as well. These meetings were also great occasions to learn about people’s opinion and attitude towards this idea and to hear their suggestions and proposals about the Time Bank. During the meetings, the project team wanted to motivate the communities and find out what are their service offerings and requests that should be introduced into the system. For this purpose, the participants have completed approximately 500 questionnaires, and based on them the database was planned and 160 persons registered in the Time Bank Community. The online platform was launched in July 2015 and with the initial registrations the transactions also began in the system.
Summary of bilateral results