Repair Café
About this good practice
Geltoki is a social and solidary economy project located in Pamplona’s old bus station. Repair Café, a community repair workshop, is one of the projects they promote. It is an open space in which neighbours participate freely and free of charge. The main objectives of this practice are the repair and reuse of broken objects, the recovery of the culture of knowledge transmission and ultimately the creation of community.
People who participate in the Repair Café can do so in two ways: they can come to the space with a broken object and be advised and participate in its repair or they can be part of the group of repair experts and accompany and help others to repair their broken objects.
The volunteers of the Repair Café cover different profiles and have and share knowledge about electricity, electronics, computers, mechanics, sewing and others. Participation in Repair Café is free of charge and all the tools and consumables used in the space are provided by Geltoki.
This practice was set up thanks to the impetus of volunteers from the organisations that participate in the Geltoki Renewable Energy Forum, the coordination of Geltoki and the co-financing of the Government of Navarra.
Timetable: 2nd Tuesday 17h-20h and last Saturday 11h-14h of each month (except for July and August).
Resources needed
10 volunteers + 2 coordinators (one from Geltoki, another volunteer) and funding of materials, tools and consumables received from Geltoki and Government of Navarra (Geltoki receives yearly 100.000€ from Government to finance activities, but Repair Café is consolidated so its expenses are minimal).
Evidence of success
Project has aroused considerable interest among citizens. It started being a space where half a dozen people met in an unstructured way, and nowadays it is a space in demand with a dozen experts in different kinds of repairs and a large number of people interested in learnig about repairing. Due to this, since last year there are 2 workshops/month and other extraordinary ones.
No of sessions held since the beginning of the project: 54
No of repaired objects: 416 (similar to the No service users)
Potential for learning or transfer
Geltoki’s Repair Café has great potential for learning and knowledge transfer in the field of WEEE and other potential waste. Despite the communication limitations of a modest space like Geltoki, the project has a remarkable recognition among users of the space and neighbours of the city. The project has networked with other repair projects in Spain in order to share knowledge, management and communication improvements. The project has been presented at the Tabakalera center in Donosti and also in Asturias for El Telar community revitalization association.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.