295 Repair Cafés participated in survey
A total of 295 Repair Cafés in fourteen countries took the time to answer the questions in the survey. These questions covered all kinds of aspects of the Repair Café: organisational issues, kinds and numbers of products brought in for repair, specific goals of individual Repair Cafés and many other aspects.

Dolls’ hospitals and student volunteers
Attracting younger visitors and younger repair volunteers are the most frequently mentioned issues that Repair Cafés experience difficulties with (see chart below, page 23 in the survey report). At the same time, the survey shows that a lot is already being done to achieve these goals. Among specific activities mentioned by the respondents are:

• Bicycle light repair events
• Having a tinker station where kids are encouraged to get hands-on with tools, take things apart ect.
• Working together with a community youth project or inviting school classes
• Organizing toy repair workshops and dolls’ hospitals
• Recruiting student volunteers

Lobby for better product design
Asked about the future, the second most important development that Repair Cafés identify is to build a stronger involvement in campaigns for improved reparability and product longevity. Here, the volunteers also see an important role for Repair Café International Foundation. The most popular future role for the Foundation, according to the respondents, would be to lobby for policies that encourage better product design, and to enter in conversation with companies about this topic.

Being part of something bigger
In their report, the researchers try to find out what kind of community the Repair Café community is. They write: “The one thing that makes the Repair Café community special is that on the one hand it seems to be a relatively loose collection of locally-oriented community initiatives. On the other hand, there is a sense of being part of something bigger; something that resembles a larger movement.”

Want to learn more? Download the entire survey report.

Het bericht Attracting younger audience is nr. 1 priority for Repair Cafés verscheen eerst op Repaircafe.

Several English-speaking countries have an active Repair Café community. Through various channels, you can exchange experiences with (other) Repair Café volunteers, give (repair) tips, ask questions and learn from each other.

If you live in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia or the United States, you can follow the Repair Café news via the special Facebook pages of these countries. For this, you don’t necessarily need a Facebook account. If you do have an account, you can also respond to posts or ask questions.

The forum
You can also place a message on the forum, as Bill Warren from Australia did on 12 September: “Anyone interested in helping me to start a Repair Cafe in Townsville, Queensland, Australia?”

Once you’ve established a Repair Café, you can also ask questions on the forum about finding sponsors and volunteers and about legal issues and publicity. Or are you looking for repair tips because your kettle no longer boils water, and you think you can fix it with some tips yourself? For that, you can also turn to the Repair Café Forum.

Do you live in Australia and do you want to help Bill Warren? Respond to his message!

Het bericht Connect via Repair Café community verscheen eerst op Repaircafe.