International Repair Cafe webinar well-attended

Nearly 120 Repair Cafe volunteers from Europe and North America attended the first international Repair Cafe webinar on Friday 7 July. This online event was organised by the Centre for Sustainable Design in the UK and Repair Cafe International in Amsterdam. The event was in English and lasted three hours. It was recorded in its entirety and can be watched back on YouTube. Below you can read which topic was covered in which hour.

Repair Cafe volunteers updated on the right to repair

In the first hour, the conversation was about the right to repair. Ada Preziosi, a lawyer at the European Commission in Brussels, updated volunteers on European plans in this area. Those plans can count on criticism from within the Repair Cafe network (read, among other things, the reaction of Repair Cafe International when the plans were presented in March 2023). Tenor of the reactions was that the plans take too much into account the wishes of product manufacturers and focus too little on the rights of consumers and the need to create less waste.

Engaging young people: first step is to get them in the door

The second hour focused on engaging younger generations. Three Repair Cafes – from the Netherlands, the UK and the US – used inspiring presentations to tell how they approach this. A common thread in them was the advice to ensure an open atmosphere where young people feel welcome. “Once they are inside, the event is the teacher. They move through the event and start to unfold. That’s the magic of Repair Cafe”, said Kathy Galione of Rockland Repair Cafe in the US state of New York. “But first you have to get them in the door.” Kathy and the other speakers gave plenty of tips on how to achieve that.

Organising and growing your initiative

The last hour was dedicated to the question: how do you make sure your Repair Cafe develops successfully over the years? Also in this hour, there were three presentations, from a Dutch Repair Cafe that has been around for more than a decade, a French Repair Cafe that started a few years ago, and a Repair Cafe in the United States that just had its first meeting.

Throughout the webinar, all sorts of questions, tips and experiences were exchanged in the chat. Martin Charter of the Centre for Sustainable Design and Martine Postma of Repair Cafe International were happy with the lively discussions and good atmosphere. They will look into the possibility of organising international Repair Cafe webinars more often.

More information

• Watch the event back on YouTube;
• The full programme, including the names of all speakers and their presentations, can be found on the Centre for Sustainable Design website.