Projects Beyond Money

Movement for People’s Economy or Solidarity Economy
As a response to further scale-enlargement and non-democratic structures of economic life, many research-activist centres and local alternative-economics groups have started implementing alternatives to the general capitalistic mode of economic organisation of life. These implementation processes focus them especially around new democratic and social money systems, such as LET-systems and open money systems.

Below you'll find a list of descriptions, links and information about well known groups and the research they do. Also, a list of descriptions of the most common alternative economic ideas will be provided.

Strohalm
Strohalm is a Dutch NGO with partnerships in the South. It develops social and economic alternatives by way of comprehensive research, trainings, projects and publications on Financial Micro Initiatives and ecological tax reform, to tackle the underlying economic causes of environmental degradation and social problems such as such as poverty, long-term unemployment and consumerism. Through projects in practise, Strohalm wants "to demonstrate that change is possible". They focus on issues such as interest, money circulation, taxation and the social organisation of economies and help developing practical alternatives in these fields on a local level.


 * Strohalm
 * Country: Netherlands,
 * Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch
 * Keywords: alternative economy, Open Money

TheTransitioner
TheTransitioner.org is a collective (wiki) website with the objective to provide information on different ways to combine 'Collective Intelligence' with a fair economy for everyone build around a robust and fair monetary system. The website provides articles and information on different community currencies, |'open money' and other alternative ideas about the economy. It promotes collective intelligence and it believes that Collective Intelligence evolves at the condition that there is a monetary system that is not scarce but sufficient and issued by democratic, open and transparent process. There are numerous action and research |projects in development


 * |TheTransitioner
 * Language: English and French
 * Country: international
 * Keywords: Alternative Economy, Collective Intelligence

appropriate economics
Appropriate-economics.org is a website that offers information on Community Exchange Systems and Appropriate Economics. The idea of appropriate-economics is based on ideas of Schumacher and refers to decentralised economic systems to the local level, ie. smale-scale economics for local needs of a population.


 * Appropriate-economics.org

Localise West Midlands
|Localise West Midlands is a local group in the UK that seeks to implement a proces of localisation of the economy. It "aims to contribute to rebuilding the regional economy by emphasising local solutions to local, national and global problems." It also plans to research, map and disseminate examples of localisation that provides a direct alternative to the root cause of these problems.


 * |Localise West Midlands

Workgroup on a Solidarity Socio-Economy
The |Workgroup on a Solidarity Socio-Economy (WSSE) is a "global network of debate among grassroots actors, researchers and committed people who collectively generate and promote proposals and strategies for socio-economic transformation". Their mission is "to open on-going spaces for debate and networking among committed people in order to generate and promote proposals and strategies for socio-economic transformation."
 * Localise West Midlands

Open Money Project
The open money project is a project to bring together and organize the people and resources that are necessary for the development and propagation of open money everywhere. It intends to create a Free Software operating system (a Kernel) that can be used as a tool to administer local currency exchange between participants. The project is a work in progress - a continuation of almost 20 years of LETSystem development all over the world and other projects. The website offers several interactive ways of learning how to deal with open money or LET-systems.
 * open money project

Community Economies
The Community Economies project rethinks the economy through acadamic eyes. It involves a collaboration between academic and community researchers and activists in Australia, North America, and South East Asia. It desires to establishe collaborations between activists, academics and communities.

Its goals are, for example, to build sustainable non-capitalist economic alternatives and to highlight the extent and contribution of hidden and alternative economies. The website provides papers (eg. 'Beyond global vs local', 'Feminising the economy'), case-studies and stories of community enterprises


 * |Community Economies

Transaction.Net
The website Transaction.net contains a huge archive on different money-systems, such as case-studies and articles. Sections include:
 * The Money Conference, "where we hope to compare insights on all kinds of money";
 * Community Currencies: "A New Tool for the 21st Century"
 * Complementary Community Currency Systems and Local Exchange Networks


 * Transaction.net
 * Language: English
 * Country: International
 * Keywords: Open Money, Solidarity Economy, Community Currencies

Worldwide

 * 1) There is a detailed archive of local practises and experiments available from many regions in the South, like |Latin America, Asia and Africa.
 * 2) Strohalm and the Appropriate Economics organisation offer a joint helpdesk on implementing a Local Currency System.
 * 3) The |International Journal of Community Currency Research is a journal which provides a forum for the "dissemination of knowledge and understanding about the emerging array of community currencies being used throughout the world both at present and in the past."
 * 4) The website Project LETS List offers an open, free database and search engine of community currency systems. LETS is a type of local exhange currency which is used all over the world, in local area's. Anyone can upload information about their own system and view information on more than a thousand other systems.

Catalonia

 * Catalonia Network for a solidarity Economy
 * Moviments.info groups/collectives-database on alternative economy

Summary of links

 * appropriate-economics.org
 * Strohalm |(en) (nl)
 * Worldwide Help Desk on Local Currency Systems
 * Project LETS List THIS HAS EXPIRED
 * International Journal of Community Currency Research
 * Localise West Midlands
 * Workgroup on a Solidarity Socio-Economy
 * Open Money Project
 * Community economics

Archive of documents

 * In English:
 * 1) |appropriate economics
 * 2) |strohalm


 * Castellano:
 * 1) |appropriate economics

Gift Economy
A gift economy is an economic system in which participants give away things of value to the shared benefit of the community.

See for more information:
 * |infoAnarchy on Gift Economy
 * |The future of money
 * |Future Positive and at CommUnity of Minds
 * |Wikipedia on Gift Economy

Participatory Economics
Participatory Economics (parecon for short) is a type of economy proposed as an alternative to contemporary capitalism. The Participatory Economics Project is a campaign to promote critical and creative thought on economic issues and vision.

Related websites:
 * parecon.org
 * wikipedia on parecon

Social Economy
'Social economy' is a term frequently used to describe an approach of reforming corporate-structures and to promote the so-called 'third sector' of cooperatives, voluntary organisations and alike. In Europe, this approach is government-sponsored by states and the European Commission. It is, according to the organisers of a |conference in Poland, october 2004, "an intrinsic mechanism of sustainable development, based on solidarity, equity and reasoned acceptance of the principles of a regulated free market".

EMES Network
The EMES Network owes its name to its first research programme, on " the emergence of social enterprises in Europe ". More generally, it studies socio-economic entities that, while increasingly important in Europe and elsewhere, are still poorly understood. The terms designating these entities include, amongst others: the third sector, the social economy, the civil and solidarity-based economy (" économie solidaire "), the non-profit sector, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. http://www.emes.net/

New Economics Foundation
The |New Economics Foundation (nef) is a London-based "think-and-do tank that inspires and demonstrates real economic well-being", founded in 1986 by leaders of |The Other Economic Summit (TOES). It specifically focusses on reforming corporate structures so "to create and retain wealth in local communities" and to create a "right balance between local and global economies". Nef works "with all sections of society in the UK and internationally - civil society, government, individuals, businesses and academia - to create more understanding and strategies for change".