Confronting the White Elephant: International Volunteering and Racial (Dis)advantage

This retrospective study with nine volunteer-sending organizations from six countries assesses how race influences the aid recipients’ sense of power and agency of development volunteers. Methods include a combination of 24 structured staff-member interviews, 59 community-member interviews, and 83 quantitative surveys. From the perspective of intended aid recipients, there is a strong association between race and: (i) resources, (ii) knowledge and expertise, and (iii) trust. Practice implications recommend strategies to shift the power balance and to change disempowered racial perceptions, including critical conscious-raising, strengths-based dialogue, and polemic discourse about the mutuality of exchange.