The Impact of Neoliberalism and New Managerialism on Development Volunteering: An Australian Case Study

Abstract

Within the large volume of research on aid and development there has been limited study of international development volunteering generally and the ways in which it has been affected by neoliberalism. Development volunteering has undergone a resurgence over the past decade and some new forms of volunteering have emerged, but state-sponsored development programs are still a key form. These programs were relatively immune from neoliberal ideas and managerial practices until the early 2000s. An interesting puzzle is why neoliberal principles were operationalised in Australia's volunteering program at the same time as it, and other donor states, softened this focus in the rest of their aid program. These shifts in Australia's development volunteering programs have changed the logic, forms and outcomes of development volunteering.

Notes

Nichole Georgeou is a post-graduate student in the School of History and Politics at the University of Wollongong. Susan Engel is Lecturer in the School of History and Politics at the University of Wollongong.

¹IVSAs have a diversity of programs, largely reflecting differing organisational histories and focus. ABV works with NGOs, public and private sector organisations, using locally engaged in-country managers (ICMs) on a contracted assignment basis. AVI is engaged as an ICM using its development framework and a partnership approach (Kwitko and McDonald 2009, 6). VIDA was created in 2005 and is managed by Austraining International in collaboration with CARE Australia and two Canadian IVSAs. VIDA uses consultant and sub-contractor networks, locally engaged ICMs, as well as Austraining staff in regional offices, in developing partnerships with Australian and international partner organisations (Kwitko and McDonald 2009, 6). AYAD is fully run by Austraining using its global network.

²Neoliberals in the 1970s and 1980s concluded that developing states suffered from three interrelated problems: over-extended public sectors, excessive emphasis on physical capital formation (often at the expense of human capital formation), and excessive distortion of markets (Toye 1993, 70).

³Development volunteering has been linked to Australia's aid programs since the early 1950s when the Australian government supported the Australian Committee of World University Service ‘Volunteer Graduate Scheme to Indonesia’, which was created to address the impacts of the ‘white Australia’ policy (Smillie 1995, 40–1). In 1961, the program became the Overseas Service Bureau.

⁴There is a trend towards short-term placements, in particular self-funded volunteering holidays or camps, which comprise a diversity of programs and experiences for the participants involved (see Simpson 2004).