Impact case study database

Northumbria research has been central to a shift in the recognition of the contribution of Global South volunteers, and support for volunteers in international organisations. This is evidenced by impacts on international policy and organisational thinking and practice, with new policies and locally embedded support mechanisms within the work of the United Nations (UN) and both the IFRC and the wider Red Cross and Red Crescent International Movement, both internationally and locally.

4.1 Impacts on volunteering policy at the UN

The UN recognises volunteerism as an important component of any strategy aimed at poverty reduction and sustainable development but evidence about how to manage this is lacking. In addition, the UN agency UN Volunteers (UNV) has deployed tens of thousands of volunteers of over 150 nationalities to serve in more than 130 countries as well as supporting volunteering within countries. Following publication of the Global Review in 2015 [ R1], the UN issued a report which highlighted how the Global Review ‘will strengthen volunteer management knowledge in the organization and wider humanitarian sector’ [ E1, p8]. This was followed, in December 2015, by UN Resolution 70/129 ‘Integrating volunteering into peace and development’ which specifically drew upon the previous report to set policy priorities for the next decade. This was the first ever Resolution to offer a ‘specific prioritisation of humanitarian volunteering and the safety and security of volunteers’ [ E2, p2]. It was signed by 193 countries, and ‘calls upon States to create and maintain, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling environment for volunteers’ and the need ‘to work together with volunteer-involving organizations to support efforts to enhance the protection, security and well-being of volunteers’ [ E1, p37, para12].

The resolution also recognised the role of volunteers within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and called on UNV to collaborate with others to strengthen volunteer engagement with this agenda. UNV issued a Global Call to Action in which one of six commitments pledged to recognise and support the full diversity of volunteering practices – particularly in the Global South – and to address inequalities and risks in volunteering by ‘promoting and enacting policies, safeguards and norms that remove inequalities in volunteering tasks and ensure benefits are shared between and across genders, age groups and social groups; and ensuring the safety and security of volunteers by implementing new models for insurance and physical and mental health support, as well as building support for the protection of volunteers in humanitarian work’ [ E2, p4]. Baillie Smith’s research and stakeholder engagement was recognised as ‘instrumental in shaping the Global Technical Meeting which led to the Global Call to Action’ [ E2, p2] .

Other UN initiatives also draw on Baillie Smith’s work. The 2018 Report of the UN Secretary General, integrating volunteering into the Agenda for Sustainable Development, directly cites ‘the project led by the Swedish Red Cross in partnership with Northumbria University and the IFRC National Societies that focuses on the experiences of local volunteers’ [ E3, p14]. The importance of the Global Review and ViCE initiative in shaping policy are further referenced in the 2018 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, the UN’s flagship publication on volunteering [ E4]. This report cites the critical importance of Baillie Smith’s work, notably in recognition that ‘ volunteers are key actors in crises’, highlighting the vulnerabilities and lack of robust organisational policies to provide protection from the physical dangers and psychological risks that local volunteers face [ E4, p20, p68-69].

4.2 Impacts on organisational policy and practice at the Red Cross and Red Crescent

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world’s largest humanitarian network which responds to catastrophes and leads humanitarian and development projects around the world. The Movement is made up of 192 National Societies with 13.7 million volunteers worldwide. The Global Review has directly impacted how the Red Cross and Red Crescent International Movement develops and implements policies to protect volunteers globally. In 2015, 169 governments signed the 32IC/15/R5 Resolution on The Safety and Security of Humanitarian Volunteers [ E5, p16, footnote1]. This Resolution drew directly ‘on findings collected through the International Federation’s 2015 Global Review on Volunteering’ [ E5, p8] and committed: to cooperate in preventing and mitigating risks to volunteers, to collaboratively implement initiatives that will promote a safer environment for them, and to focus on gender-related risks. Specifically, it called on National Societies to make every effort to provide their volunteers in a timely manner with the best safety related information, guidance, training, protective equipment, psychological support, and insurance [ E5, p8-14].

A 2019 progress report on the Resolution’s implementation notes progress by national societies towards providing psychosocial support. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Sudanese Red Crescent, efforts and progress have been made in providing volunteers with access to psychological first aid and psychosocial support (PSS) [ E5, p18]. The Swedish Red Cross has established phased training for volunteers, combining e-learning, physical learning opportunities, external referral mechanisms, and internal follow-up to systemize and institutionalize PSS for volunteers [ E5, p18]. Informed by Baillie’s research, this also led to the development of 13 global standards to provide robust guidance for ensuring safety, security, and well-being of local volunteers [ E6, p2].

At the end of 2019, the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies approved its Strategy 2030. Of seven Transformations, the second focuses on improving diversity of, and security for, volunteers [ E7, p21-22]. The IFRC attests that ‘Baillie Smith has made a direct contribution to the Strategy 2030 which will underpin the operations and practice of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement globally for the next decade’ [ E7, p1].

In parallel, in 2017 the IFRC created a new Global Volunteering Alliance (GVA) in response to findings identified in the Global Review [ E8]. At the second GVA annual meeting, the GVA was described by IFRC president as one of the IFRC’s most important initiatives in recent years, enabling societies to understand each other’s differences and needs and to help all parties support volunteers [ E9]. By 2020, the GVA had 73 participant countries representing a combined total of nearly 10.5 million volunteers [ E10]. Adjmal Dulloo, IFRC Global Volunteering Coordinator, confirms ‘It was due to the findings from the Global Review of Volunteering that we created the GVA’ [ E10].

4.3 Impacts on volunteering support in-country

Baillie Smith’s research has contributed to new policies being enacted on the ground by national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Balthazar Bacinoni, the Burundi Red Cross Director of Organisational Development and Humanitarian Diplomacy, has identified the Global Review as directly contributing to policy changes to benefit thousands of Burundian volunteers: ‘After reading the Global Review we began to include psychosocial support for volunteers involved in the operations and started focusing on the security of volunteers … making safety and security a priority and including insurance for volunteers in our National Policy of Volunteering, revised in 2019. We are also prioritizing volunteer retention, better equipment and, finally, the formal recognition of volunteers on the statute of our National Society for the first time’ [ E11].

The Swedish Red Cross funded the ViCE Initiative (Baillie Smith was research director), which led to the delivery of new services and support mechanisms for volunteers. This also included specific solutions in certain countries, such as volunteer insurance in Honduras and developing leadership and initiative skills in Sudan ‘which emerged from the participatory methods deployed by Baillie Smith’ [ E6, p2]. It also included the creation and appointment of ViCE Advisors responsible for volunteer development and improving safety, security, and well-being in traumatic environments in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast [ E6, p3].