In 2022, the Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) started the “Decolonize ! Project”. As part of this project, 10 organisations from all continents are carrying out a Participatory Action Research (PAR) about their own experiences with decolonial thinking and practices. This initiative aims at understanding if IVS organisations are supporting a decolonised approach or reproducing neo-colonial relationships between the Global South and the Global North*. The decolonizing that this project is about regards, not the diplomatic or violent processes that previously colonized countries undergo to obtain independence, but the collective liberation from colonial legacies that still keep people, places and ideas divided and hierarchically ordered.
We, the team of international PAR researchers, want to gather information from all CCIVS members to get a wider picture of the neo-colonial dynamics at place in the IVS sector. We therefore ask each organisation to fill in this questionnaire, so that we can start changing our narratives and practices as a global network.
Who is asked to fill in this questionnaire ? People working in an IVS organisation, on the operational or coordinating level, who have a good overview of the overall work of the organisation and the ongoing projects.
How much time will it take ? Around 45 minutes
When do I need to send it ? Before the end of October
What will it be used for ? The results will be used as material for the diagnostic phase of the PAR process, which will help us to know how to implement change in our networks and how to advocate better for a “decolonised volunteering”. Data will only be dealt by the members of the "Decolonize !" project.
Further information about research purpose and the project in general : https://ccivs.org/decoloniseivs/about/
* "Global South" and "Global North" are concepts we use to refer to a socio-economic and political divide and not a geographical one. We are aware this denomination can be questioned and do not want to provide any definition, in order for our questions not to be too oriented.
