Revisiting reciprocity in international volunteering

Benjamin J. Lough and Willy Oppenheim
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Benjamin J. Lough: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana IL, USA
Willy Oppenheim: University of Washington, Seattle WA, USA

Progress in Development Studies, 2017, vol. 17, issue 3, 197-213

Abstract: This article critically examines reciprocity in international volunteering. It first highlights tensions and unintended consequences that can emerge when pursuing reciprocal relationships between host-country partners and international volunteers or volunteer-sending organizations. It then reconsiders how to determine equal or fair distribution of benefits between stakeholders when some benefits are material and some are intangible. It then presents a typology of different modalities of reciprocity practiced or aspired to by contemporary international volunteer organizations. The article aims to provoke more nuanced consideration of when, if or under what conditions different forms of reciprocity may be possible or even desirable.

Keywords: volunteering; reciprocity; power; partnership; mutuality; civil society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:prodev:v:17:y:2017:i:3:p:197-213

DOI: 10.1177/1464993417713275

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