The co-production method can be used in the currency design process itself to overcome some of the issues cited above. However, because needs, assets and objectives are unique to each individual and community, there is no definitive co-production blueprint. Rather, certain guiding principles should be considered.
For example, within a currency project, co-production should involve: - Developing people’s existing capabilities: Identify strengths and assets they bring to the table. Actively support people to utilise these at all stages of the currency project. - Mutuality and reciprocity: Offer stakeholders a range of incentives that enable them to work in reciprocal relationships with professionals and with each other, with shared and managed expectations. - Peer support networks: Engaging peer and personal networks alongside currency experts is the best way to transfer knowledge. - Blurring distinctions: Reduce barriers between professionals and recipients, and between producers and consumers by recognising that people are indeed experts in their own habits and needs – and, as such, in how a currency could align with these. - Facilitating rather than delivering: View the currency as a catalyst and facilitator of change rather than the central agent of change itself. - Recognising people as assets: See people as equal partners in the design and delivery of the currency, rather than passive recipients and burdens on the project.
These principles require the committed involvement of individuals and communities at every stage. A superficial application of co- production will be counterproductive. The potential rewards, however, are significant: people who are more engaged and involved in the currency project, a currency which is more responsive to its user’s needs, and better and more cost-effective outcomes long-term.
Currencies in action: E-Portmonnee
Solar panels have always been popular here. The municipality used to offer subsidies to encourage people to install them, but the policy became a victim of its own success and, after a while, was not sustainable. So we started looking for other ways to incentivise environmentally friendly behaviour.Talks were held with government environmental agencies and we consulted other municipalities to see if we could learn from their experiences. After a year of planning we announced the e-Portemonnee.
The system encourages a range of actions: reducing water consumption, switching to green energy providers through which people earn points. These can then be spent in a number of ways – on anything that makes it easier for people to act in a sustainable way.
e-Portemonnee is having a real effect on people’s behaviour, rather than just a one-off or short-term impact.
Leen Frensen, Sustainability Officer for Diepenbeek, Belgium.