Engaging Canadians: Insights on Decolonial, Anti-racist and Feminist Approaches
Research Project
2024
Context
In the recent years, the international cooperation sector has made efforts to reckon with colonial and racist structures and envision pathways to decolonial and antiracist systems. The Anti-Racism Framework, for example, was developed in 2021 and provides a collective space for organizations to commit and work towards an anti-racist sector. The annual progress report that is prepared by the Anti-Racist Cooperation (ARC) Hub as part of the framework provides insights into organizations’ anti-racist work in the international cooperation sector.
The ICN has also contributed to this ongoing work on decolonization, feminism and anti-racism through research. ICN’s research, conducted with Canadian and Global partners, examines the use of decolonial, feminist and anti-racist approaches in public engagement. Through this research, we find that to move towards more decolonial, anti-racist and feminist public engagement, both governmental and non-governmental actors need to centre communities, invest resources, foster open dialogues, build relations of trust and solidarity and develop critical reflexivity mechanisms. Although these actions suggest pathways towards better public engagement approaches, in the absence of a supportive environment these actions are likely to lose their potential to contribute to substantial change. This is the focus of our current research.
About the Research
This research extends ICN’s body of work on public engagement. Building on our most recent research on decolonial, anti-racist and feminist approaches to public engagement, this project focuses on an enabling environment for the effective and meaningful use of these approaches. Specifically, we are interested in the strategies and tools that public engagement practitioners use to implement these approaches. We are also interested in exploring the ecosystem in which these approaches are used.
Grounded on decolonial, anti-racist and feminist principles, this research adopts several research tools including surveys, in-depth interviews, and focus groups to generate data.
Objectives