25 March, 2023

White Saviour Complex campaign

STOP WHITE SAVIORISM IN VOLUNTEERING

Every year, a mass of volunteer tourists, who are white, privileged and from the Global North, go on holidays to “help” the people in the Global South. In SCI we had a 5-day social media campaign in which we talked about what the savior complex is and why it is harmful.

? Throughout the campaign we talked about:
▪️ What is white saviorism complex and why is it harmful?
▪️ How is it connected to volunteering?
▪️ What questions should we ask ourselves in order to avoid white saviorism?
▪️ What are good practices and solutions?

7 SCI Branches participated in the campaign (SCI IS, SCI Austria, KVT Finland, SCI Germany, VSI Ireland, VIA Netherlands, SCI Switzerland). The campaign was shared more than 70 times and it got more than 7500 impressions.

Below you can find the campaign designs throughout all the days.

Day 1

Through this online campaign we wanted to uncover and stop white saviorism logic behind volunteer tourism!

Day 2

In order to uncover white savior complex we need to talk about its connection to volunteering.

We think that we as peace organisations should go way beyond sending volunteers from the Global North to the Global South. We need to create awareness for global injustice and the need to stand up against harmful global power structures.

Day 3

We have to learn how to recognise and question racist structures and power relations!

If we want to volunteer in the Global South it is important to be aware of our position, role, intentions and privileges in order not to reproduce the postcolonial power structures! Choose a volunteering organisation that offers serious and sustainable projects.

Day 4

It is important to acknowledge practices that can help us act for global justice and change neocolonial structures in volunteering organisations!

Day 5

Over the past few days we discussed the connection of white savior complex with volunteering and have raised the question how we can avoid it as well as reflecting on good practices and solutions! You can find further reading and tips for a deeper understanding of “white savior complex”.