Engaging Canadians: Insights on Decolonial, Anti-racist, and Feminist Approaches Research Project 2023-2024

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.

Our past research identifies key areas of action that both governmental and non-governmental actors should focus on in their public engagement approaches. To move towards decolonial, anti-racist and feminist public engagement, actors should 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 this research.

Methods

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

This research aims to:

Analyze the ecosystem within which international cooperation sector organizations use decolonial, anti-racist and feminist approaches in public engagement.
Collate tools used to implement decolonial, anti-racist and feminist approaches in public engagement.
Understand different challenges that organizations face in their use of decolonial, anti-racist and feminist approaches in public engagement.
Provide recommendations that will inform policy and practice in public engagement and global citizenship.