Inequalities in Volunteering Research: A decolonial perspective

• In Event: Volunteering for Development: current thinking in addressing inequalities in practice and research

Abstract

Research on volunteering is dominated by actors from the Global North. This dominance provides various policy communities with a skewed and incomplete understanding of the role and impact of volunteering in development. Drawing from a qualitative study involving a detailed review of literature and key informant interviews with actors in the volunteering ecosystem, this paper addresses three critical questions: what are the root causes of inequalities in volunteering research and how do they manifest? What actionable proposals can be made to redress existing inequalities?

Applying a decolonial perspective, the paper argues that existing inequalities are products of geopolitical power interests, assumptions, hierarchies, and values in the spaces for ‘global’ knowledge production, which privilege and ‘universalize’ practices and actions of Northern actors. This manifests in the dominance of research in international volunteering while other forms are denigrated as ‘local,’ ‘informal’ and therefore non-impactful in development, and not worthy of investing in. An additional challenge is the paucity of investment in the development of methods for measuring these ‘informalities’, especially in the context of skills and capacity gaps in the Global South.

To redress the current state of affairs, the paper makes four proposals. First is to surface these inequalities, demonstrate bona fides, and build trust-based relationships. Second is to adopt a multi-stakeholder perspective in the design and implementation of volunteering research. Third is to use a plurality of research methods, and finally, is the need to invest in building an equitable volunteering research ecosystem.


Key words
Inequalities; Volunteering research; Decolonial perspective


References

Baillie Smith, M., Laurie, N. and Griffiths M. (2017). South–South Volunteering and Development. Geographic Journal 184(2): 158–68.

Collyer, F., Connell, R., Maia, J., and Morrell, R. (2019). Knowledge and Global Power: Making new sciences in the South. Wits University Press, Johannesburg; Menon, D.M. (ed) (2022). Changing Theory: Concepts from the Global South. Routledge (Oxford & New York) and Wits University Press, Johannesburg.

Authors

• Jacob Mwathi Mati, Centre on African Philanthropy and Social Investment, University of the Witwatersrand

• Helene Perold, Independent social researcher

• Jacqueline Butcher, CIESC/Tecnologico de Monterrey

• Christopher Millora