Ester Barinaga

Professor

Aboke-pesa : Scaling up a mutual credit currency. Teaching Case

Author

Ester Barinaga

Summary, in English

The case presents Aboke-pesa, a local complementary currency in a poor rural area of Western Kenya.The reader gets an insight into the economic context of rural areas in the Global South, the work of introducing digital community currencies through farmers’ cooperatives, one of the most common designs of these currencies (mutual credit systems or LETS) as well as the particular challenges digital currencies encounter in rural areas of the Global South. Faced with an increase number of farmers wanting to join the currency system, the reader is then presented with the question of how to scale up such initiatives without compromising the participatory and democratic nature of their governance structures.The case ends at the moment the management team of the farmers’ cooperative has to decide on the currency’s future scaling strategy.

Department/s