Direct Service

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Decolonizing Direct Service

CHLOE LOVELAND

When done well, direct service should not be performative, or necessarily easy, or even temporary. Instead direct service should be on-going and collaborative. When serving communities - especially those foreign to our own - we are asking to be welcomed into another’s world. Therefore, service should be accompanied by the acknowledgement of a community’s abilities, stories, experiences, and independence. We should view communities as inherently empowered, with or without us. Direct service is not a call to rescue, pity, convert, or reprimand. Instead, it asks those with privilege to leverage their power in ways that create equity for all. If nothing else, direct service should be showing up, listening, and supporting.

Additionally, direct service is typically what comes to mind for many when they think about social impact. However, it must be clarified that this approach is only one way to improve communities. Service - whether being utilized to mitigate the effects of social inequality, public health outcomes, climate change, or any other social ill - is just one tool in the toolbox, and it will never be the only apparatus needed to resolve a complex social problem.

Effective direct service is done in combination with a variety of social change approaches. It is also executed after asking major questions needed to maintain accountability. These might include: Who am I helping? What is the historical context of this community? Why is relief needed in the first place? Who are the stakeholders in the issue being addressed? Who holds the power to make decisions and why? What are the outcomes and consequences of my actions? Although these questions may seem obvious to ask, the truth is direct service has a history of reinforcing colonial structures and white supremacy, rendering close examination imperative.

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Colonial Background

Colonization has been conflated with and justified as “service” going back centuries. During the Middle Ages, the Crusades were marked by bloody violence justified as a noble God-given calling. A more modern example of colonization can be seen in the 2001 implementation of the “War on Terror’’ campaign, when President George W. Bush launched invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of “global freedom.” The Vice President at the time, Dick Cheney, was quoted as saying, “my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” The reality of Iraqi citizens, however, proved quite different as violence increased and unstable relationships were developed that did not take account of the cultural complexities of the region. To this day, we are a military presence in Iraq with no foreseeable solution where we can withdraw. This is an example of how neocolonialism –using military violence for the sake of self-interest– is often masked by messages of moral obligation and peace building.

Although many forms of casual direct service do not go so far as to claim military violence as beneficial, many people still justify attitudes of white supremacy and colonial mentalities as a natural part of “doing good” in the world. Communities are told what to do without being listened to or elevated to the status of co-collaborators and decision makers. Stories of direct service are marked by highlighting white protagonists and their “selfless” work, while putting poor and often black or brown counterparts in a light of condescension and helplessness. Volunteers engage in service work they are not qualified for. Money is poured into service activities such as “voluntourism” (travel vacations mixed with service projects, often abroad) that bring visibility to white volunteers, while turning a blind eye to the real needs of a community. This type of behavior has been labeled the White Savior Industrial Complex, a term coined by Nigerian-American writer Teju Cole. In the book No More Heroes Jordan Flaherty describes the prototypical savior as a “person who has been raised in privilege and taught implicitly or explicitly (or both) that they posses the answers and skills needed to save others, no matter the situation….They are taught that saving others is the burden they must bear.”

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White saviorism and colonialism go handin-hand. Both are built on the belief that Westerners, primarily those who are white and monetarily privileged, are automatically qualified and hold expertise by default because of their socioeconomic status, or the economic or social status of their country. To combat white saviorism, the decolonization of direct service is necessary. Decolonization in the context of direct service can be interpreted as understanding the history of communities and respecting their self-determination, even while engaging in collaborative service. By doing this, we are less likely to engage in an ego-driven manner and can form a deeper connection to the communities we aim to serve. Direct service should never be motivated by an urge to push ethnocentric agendas, signal our own morality, or bring visibility to ourselves as heroes. Every individual should be treated and portrayed with dignity, and every individual deserves the right to lift themselves up and make their own decisions for their community and their family. Fortunately, some organizations are finding ways to facilitate direct service in decolonized ways.

“Stories of direct service are marked by highlighting white protagonists and their “selfless” work, while putting poor and often black or brown counterparts in a light of condescension and helplessness.”

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Teju Cole

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Examples of Decolonization

Learning to critically evaluate organizations before supporting them through volunteer work is an integral part of decolonizing direct service, and allows for true improvement and innovation. Through decolonizing service, we can cultivate a world based on mutual respect, trust, and equity. While no organization is perfect, the following organizations provide us examples of community-focused service that helps create dignity, share power, and respect autonomy.

Utah Diné Bikéyah (UDB) (https://utahdinebikeyah.org) is an innovative nonprofit that adopts a data-driven and equitable approach to direct service. Utah Diné Bikéyah’s Traditional Food Program identifies “holistic solutions that restore Native American traditional food practices relating to wild foods, hunting rituals, and traditional farming practices, as well as the identification of traditional food recipes and cooking practices.” UDB involves community members every step of the way as they conduct traditional food assessments in San Juan County to reach several Native American tribes and record Native wisdom and practices when it comes to food cultivation. Recently, UDB partnered with Red Butte Garden and the Natural History Museum of Utah to apply Indigenous wisdom to expand potato production on Indigenous lands. This project involves UDB and their partners providing a one-day training session to Indigenous communities on commercially growing, harvesting, and marketing the food they grow.

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Population Works Africa (https://www. popworksafrica.org) is a collective of skilled Black women consultants that utilize their 25 years plus of experience to address Africa’s most pressing issues by helping “disrupt the historically white space of power in international development.” The organization provides consulting to NGOs to support the planning, budgeting, and allocation of international development monetary funds and to support the strategization of youthled movements in the francophone African region. Their approach to social problems not only involves local communities that are actually affected by an issue, but also acknowledges and engages with various collaborative stakeholders that are involved in the problem –NGOs– community partners, governments, donors, etc. Population Works Africa actively works toward dismantling colonialism within the social impact world and attempts to revolutionize how direct service and development is approached in Africa.

Conclusion

It is easy to feel discouraged and confused when we start to realize that what we thought were innocent forms of service may actually be methods of reinforcing colonial mindsets. Issues like these are so deeply integrated into our systems that it can feel overwhelming. However, the only way to begin the process of decolonization is to courageously shift away from the myth that we can save communities through a false sense of Western superiority. A (re)knowing of the world and our fellow humans is necessary to view direct service as something that is performed in relationship with communities versus for them. It is critical that we search throughout ancestral ways of being to (re)imagine new forms of living. More than just serving, direct service must first come to terms with what it means to be with one another. If we truly desire to serve each other, forming a genuine connection, understanding each other, and collaborating as co-equals is absolutely necessary.

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