“We all exist in contradiction. We are not outside the systems we critique. We are formed by them, funded through them, educated by them and often made legible through them. In the world of international volunteering, this contradiction is not abstract. It is present in the language of help, the movement of volunteers from North to South, the expectations placed on host and receiving communities, the images used to communicate impact and the ways in which care can become entangled with power. To work for justice in this field is therefore not to work from a place of purity. It is to work while implicated in systems of harm.”
Comhlámh presents a new paper that draws on over twenty years’ experience of coordinating our Code of Good Practice for Volunteer Sending Agencies, a framework designed to strengthen values-led approaches to international volunteering. A central theme of the paper is the importance of engaging with “difficult knowledge” and learning to hold the “AND”. This includes recognising that volunteering can create connection and reinforce inequalities; that organisations can be committed to justice and still be shaped by unequal systems.
Rather than seeking comfort in simple answers, the Code encourages organisations to stay with these tensions and use them as a basis for deeper reflection. It encourages us to move beyond asking whether we are doing things correctly and instead ask different questions: whose voices are shaping decisions, what kinds of relationships are being built, and what does solidarity require in practice rather than aspiration?
We invite you to read more here, and welcome feedback, thoughts and reflections
Space for difficult knowledge – reflections on solidarity volunteering