Update December 2018
It seems that the two lists of New Zealand timebanks described below, in 2012, are not currently available. For an alternative list, see comment below.
There are two authoritative and well-maintained lists of Timebanks around New Zealand:
1. Living Economies list of New Zealand Timebanks – arranged by geographical region.
2. TBANZ (TimeBank Aotearoa New Zealand) list of New Zealand Timebanks – arranged in alphabetical order by name.
When I began my research in March 2011, there were only seven or eight Timebanks that existed in New Zealand:
Hokonui Timebank (Gore); New Brighton (near Christchurch); Lyttelton; Roimata (which was not active at that time, also in Christchurch); Taita; Otaki; Eastbay TimeBank (Whakatane); and Kaitaia (also not active at that time).
Compare this list, of only six active Timebanks in March 2011, to the lists that you see on the Living Economies and TBANZ websites today. Only 15 months later we have emerging and established Timebanks in more than 20 locations around Aotearoa New Zealand. (This is not to suggest that my research has had something to do with this, although I can claim some responsibility with regard to the establishment of the Dunedin Timebank). I think it is important however to look back and see how far Time Banking has come in New Zealand in a short space of time, and to celebrate the national networking, collaboration, and support that is making this possible. If you would like to read a bit about the history of national collaboration between Timebanks in New Zealand, see this summary that I compiled for the TBANZ website.
I am so interested to know that there has been a great increase in the number of Time Banks in NZ since 2011. I would like to have a list of those groups and where they are, as then I can recommend people to the one nearest their place of residence.
Hi Patricia, thank you for your comment. Unfortunately it looks like the two lists of NZ timebanks shown in my post above have not been maintained and are not currently available. You can find a list of the NZ timebanks that are using Community Weaver as their trading software by going to the TimeBanks USA directory, available here: https://community.timebanks.org/ scroll down and select ‘International List’ and scroll down to New Zealand. From there, you can follow the links for each timebank, you may be able to get their contact information, and also visit their Community Weaver site.
It is a pity that many of the links you give to TimeBank documents, including to Timebank.org.nz are incorrect or broken. I would like to follow up on some of them, and find the challenges in doing so to be frustrating.
Hi Michael, yes I agree that it is a pity that many of these websites are no longer available, although this is common with social movements and activist projects that depend on voluntary work. We can however celebrate what has been achieved in the past. It is also likely that the people who used to maintain these websites on a voluntary basis are now involved in different activist and community projects, I’m sure their good work continues, in different ways! Did you see the link I shared above, for the Timebanks USA directory? If so, has that list been of any help in following up with some of the timebanks?
Kai ora, there is some work being done in Canterbury under the banner ‘TimeBanks of Canterbury’ which is working to involve as many Canterbury based TimeBanks as possible in terms of support the kaupapa, processes, resources, learnings and shared evaluation tools. Some really exciting things happening! Please get in touch if you want to know more