Time Bank is a government initiative that is making waves among the Nanjing elderly community, whereby it allows volunteers to store their service time and in the future use such to exchange it for money, food or assistance.
The head of the Nanjing Civil Affairs Bureau told the People’s Daily that the total number of elderly people over 60 years old in Nanjing is 1 million 343 thousand, accounting for 20.1 percent of the registered population, of whom 195,000 are disabled or semi-disabled. There are now 38 pension time banks in the city of Nanjing, with more than 5,000 volunteers.
In 2005, Nanjing began trying out Time Bank models, aiming at mobilising the more “youthful” and healthy elderly to care for the older members of the community with reduced mobility. The Time Bank is said to have solved the “problem of insufficient manpower in home care”, while “greatly alleviating the pressure on the government purchase of services” and ensuring home care services remain in place. There are now 375 volunteers, more than 90 percent of whom aged 55 to 65, and each volunteer helps 5 elderly people.
Universities have begun adding “volunteer work” to their credit-based systems, whereby students who log a certain amount of hours volunteering to assist the elderly can accredit that to their final scores. Thus, an influx in volunteers at centres increases each year, not only featuring senior aids but youths too.
The volunteer will store time at the Bank after every service performed, and this can be exchanged for the individual and/or his family after a total of 20 hours. 70 percent of the time can be exchanged for other volunteers’ services, 20 percent for equivalent items from the Charity Supermarket, such as rice, eggs and oil. The remaining 10 percent can be converted into cash directly; 1 hour is said to be worth ¥12.
In order to encourage more people to join the Time Bank, led by the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs, and participate in the pension time bank volunteer service, the initiative has been incorporated into the Nanjing Special Good Citizen award.
