The Ethical Volunteer
Engaging on Site
If you’ve heard of the 9 Components of a Quality Community Engagement, you know that the focus of education, orientation, and training (the Learning Components) is vital to the experience. It deepens our knowledge, makes topics easier to talk about, and creates a more tangible understanding for a participant. However, the language and theory we’re learning can prove harmful when the academic perspectives are placed on experiences within the community or on community members themselves.
Consider this example: A group of volunteers travel to Baltimore, Maryland to work in an after-school program geared toward middle schoolers. One of the days, the participants choose to wear their program shirts on site so they can get a group photo. The program’s logo is on the front and the list of the program’s titles and locations on the back—including Protecting Vulnerable Youth: Dismantling the School-to-Prison-Pipeline, Baltimore, MD. Though the intention is harmless, what is the message sent to the students reading your shirts?
We believe in education and looking inward in order to be aware of the privilege you bring into a space. We become educated, oriented, and trained to give context for the institutional, societal, and historical underpinnings of why we perceive service-work is necessary—not to cloud a volunteer’s vision with stories of needs, deficits, and diagnosis. We do it to de-center ourselves and highlight the systems of oppression at play.
How can we mitigate harm? By treating people like people. By focusing on building real relationships with individuals and organizations. By engaging in authentic (not voyeuristic) conversations with community members—hearing and sharing stories.We must embody humility as guests in spaces that aren’t our own.
Are You Sure You Want to Post That?
We live in an age where putting ourselves and experiences on display is commonplace. The world we witness can be shared with the tap of a finger, keeping friends and family up-to-date on the individual we’re becoming. Beyond our personal lives social media plays a huge, and often unfortunate, role in the volunteer industry.
Although uncomfortable, it’s imperative to critically examine the cringe-worthy evidence of voluntourism dissected and satirized in media. Volunteers—both internationally and domestically—often portray their experience in a way that dehumanizes and demoralizes communities they are entering.
Volunteers have the responsibility to exercise caution with social media on both a personal and programmatic level. Everything from ensuring informed, legal consent is attained when photographing other people to considering how pictures and narratives are presented.
Individually
Volunteers must be wary of the intentions behind each post. It takes self-awareness and honesty to realize whether or not the picture is for your own self-promotion. After intent is examined, impact has to be considered. Is the photo you’re sharing perpetuating the single story of a person or community you’ve engaged with? How would the person or community you’re posting about feel if they saw your picture and read your caption?
Programmatically
Leaders must be considerate of the intent and impact of promotional materials for community engagement experiences. Are you using photos that perpetuate the savior complex or are you showing neighborhoods exercising their own power and self-determination? Are you advertising a destination or creating a platform for communities to tell their story?
Ethical Storytelling
Before you post, consider following these guidelines*. We’ll also offer some ideas for ways you can positively use social media during your community engagement experience:
Tell a story to disrupt the single stories. Challenge your followers’ preconceived notions of service and the people you’re working with.
Commit to remaining interested and invested in the work of the organizations you volunteered with by following their social media channels and advocating for their cause.
Be a witness. Use your own pages as a platform for organizations that amplify the community’s voice. Share their message and support them (virtually and monetarily) long after the experience is over.
Telling the Story
Consider these two ways to tell a story upon completing your community engagement experience:
We served meals at a food bank for the week. I couldn’t believe how many people needed help feeding themselves and their families. The lack of grocery stores or markets in that area makes it impossible for individuals to eat healthily and live a holistically-well life. We saw a lot of malnutrition and obesity. Witnessing it inspired me. There are so many people in the world who live a less fortunate life than mine, so it’s important for me to keep giving back.
We served meals at a food bank for the week. I loved getting to know the staff and community members around us. I always thought that people who needed food assistance were unhoused individuals, but I was surprised that many people can barely get by with the rising costs of living. While the neighborhood in that city has few grocery stores, the food bank is one of the many initiatives the community is taking to support each other in making healthy food accessible. So much good work is happening there, and I’m excited to bring some of these ideas back to implement in my own community.
Ethical volunteerism is essential to consider while preparing for the experience, during the experience, and even after it’s over. Volunteers carry a responsibility to ethically explain their experiences—ensuring we’re not sharing stories of individuals for personal credibility, or perpetuating narratives that focus on the deficits of communities that welcomed us in.
Your Role as a Storyteller
We all have preconceived notions of other people. These can be broken when we hear a disruptive narrative or learn an interfering fact. There’s power in storytelling. As people who engage with community, we must be thoughtful of the pictures we’re painting (or, posting) of the communities we’re working with. There’s beauty in being able to vulnerably admit personal moments of misconception and growth. Ultimately, the best result is to internalize the lessons learned and values gained—and act accordingly.
*It is NEVER acceptable to post photos of children. Ever. Even if you have consent from the adults in their lives, that is NOT consent from the child. You can take pictures with kids for your own memories. But those photos are just for you.
