John Rogers ran a local exchange system in Wales from 1993-2003, co-directed the Wales Institute for Community Currencies at the University of Newport from 2003-2007 and is the author of three books on local currencies.<\/p>\n
In July 2013, he was invited by Professor Bendell at IFLAS (The Institute for Leadership and Sustainability) in the University of Cumbria, England, to give an Open Lecture on community currencies.<\/p>\n
National currency is a highly successful ‘social technology’ that enables us to do business with each other, to build roads, schools and hospitals and run complex modern economies. But all this comes at a price. The interest-bearing money system behind it creates debt and erodes regional autonomy.<\/p>\n
Local currencies are necessary as a counterbalance and come in many shapes and forms. But an even more challenging question than ‘why’ we need them is ‘how to do them’.<\/p>\n
John Rogers outlines three ‘Ms’ as guiding principles for successful local currency development: Methodology<\/strong> – we need more methodology and less ideology around local currency development in order to ensure that they are designed, managed and governed well<\/p>\n Maps<\/strong> – we need to make richer maps of the unmet needs and underused resources in each region before<\/em> introducing local currencies.<\/p>\n
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\nMavericks<\/strong> – most local currencies are run by people outside the mainstream who can see a different way of doing local economies – we should encourage the mavericks<\/p>\n