Below is a link to a video entitled It’s About Time which was part of the Volunteer Films Project on the Community Channel.

This clip was published in the spring of 2008 as part of the Time Banking Campaign which is sadly no longer live – but that’s not why it’s been included as this week’s Video Tuesday entry.

The people in the video describe a system where individuals earn time credits by the hour for time volunteered and then are allowed to spend those credits by calling on another volunteer’s time.

Our question to you is could this be an interesting and effective way of encouraging volunteers to fulfil a supporting role within a supported volunteering project where the support required was not overly intensive? Could the support needs of a smaller group of individuals be filled by calling on a larger pool of vetted and trained individuals while allowing them to pursue a more ad hoc engagement with a volunteering role where the nature of support doesn’t rely to heavily on an existing chemistry betweensupporter and supportee?

Furthermore, could it be a way of allowing the supportee to enter into an exchange of volunteer-time given thus emphasising that they are part of a process not just a recipient? As disability does not meanno ability then is it unreasonable to assume that many supportees might find that they have skills with which to barter.

You will need to follow this link to see the clip we’re talking about as the Community Channel website does not allow us to embed their videos here