We encourage volunteers to post content that emphasizes genuine and candid interaction between volunteers, staff, and community members, as well as content that allows others to gain an understanding of our collaborative work.
Global Brigades works with thousands of university volunteers each year. When we post on social media, we set an example for how others perceive international development work.
After all, isn’t it our responsibility to accurately reflect the full scope of how our work is sustainable, collaborative, and empowering?
We encourage volunteers to post photos and videos from Brigades, using content that emphasizes genuine and candid interaction between volunteers, staff, and community members. In short, volunteers should use social media meaningfully to allow others to gain an understanding of the values and goals of Global Brigades' collective work.
“It can be difficult to present other people and the surroundings accurately in a brief social media post. Even though harm is not intended, many volunteers and travelers end up sharing images and text that portray local residents as passive, helpless and pitiful -- feeding the stereotypical imagery instead of breaking them down.” - Radi Aid Social Media Guide
Global Brigades' Three C's is a helpful guideline to reference when posting about your Brigade:
The list below is a good starting point for words you should try to eliminate, as they can create a sense of division -- even when used inadvertently:
- Locals: Using the word “locals” or even “local community” reinforces the idea of separation between partner communities and volunteers.
- Foreigners: Much like “locals,” the word “foreigners” suggests an otherness and distancing from partner communities and different cultures.
- Serve: When one group is described as “served” by another, that diminishes the shared effort behind most successful international volunteer experiences.
- Abroad: While it’s not inherently bad to describe international travel as going “abroad,” it’s more inclusive to specify the country when volunteering internationally.
- Mission: Missions, or mission trips, are generally specific to religious or political endeavors. Otherwise, the phrasing suggests a one-sided initiative. In general, it is frequently an ethnocentric approach to volunteering-based travel to believe you must “save” or “convert” people from what may be a typical expression in their own community.
- Fix/Rectify/Heal/Save: This kind of language suggests a need for volunteers to correct or improve a community, rather than strive for a collaborative effort. The goal should not be for communities to need “fixing” by the ‘more privileged party.' Instead, it should be to use volunteer opportunities as a way to empower communities to support themselves. Volunteers should approach the experience with a posture to learn, not fix.
- Developing World: It’s always best to just be specific with country names rather than coming off as patronizing or suggesting a hierarchy. The use of this phrase or others like “third-world country” can lead to an us versus them mentality.
- Helpless/Needy: Avoid patronizing language that suggests members of any partner community are desperate for your help. Instead, focus on areas of resilience or collaboration.
- Primitive: Avoid any suggestion that indigenous practices are less than or exotic. It diminishes the value of cultural traditions and contributes to ethnocentric thinking (suggesting that anything unlike one’s own culture is somehow beneath another’s).
- Underprivileged: Words like this can come off as condescending and likely ignore the reasons why economic disparities exist in the first place.
In general, ask yourself, “Does the way I’m speaking empower and uplift the subject of my words, or does it create a division between us?”
If the answer is not ‘empower and uplift,’ adjust your words. Learn more about how to avoid words that demean or diminish the community where you volunteer here in this blog.
By posting about your Brigade, you can inspire others to get involved. This ripple effect leads to more people gaining access to healthcare, clean water, and economic opportunities.
Take the time to make each post accurately reflects the depth of your experience.
One of the best ways to stay in touch with Global Brigades is on social media. We share impact updates, community member testimonials, volunteer stories, and news about our sustainable development work: