22 January, 5:30-7pm
Deptford Townhall Room 102, Goldsmiths University of London and Online
Author: Dr Chris Millora, Goldsmiths University of London
Respondents:
Sophie van der Ham, Senior Programme and Policy Officer, Mayor of London
Oscar Pimlett, former London Youth Representative of the National Council of the NEU
The United Nations has declared 2026 the International Year of Volunteering, recognising volunteer action’s role in achieving development outcomes. In this presentation, I use a ‘literacy lens’ to reflect on what this global rhetoric looks like in practice, particularly within local, community-based volunteer organisations led by individuals who themselves come from vulnerable backgrounds. I will draw on insights from my recent book Local Volunteering, Adult Learning and Social Change in the Philippines (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) to demonstrate how certain literacy practices might construct and intensify inequalities in locally led volunteer organisations. Bureaucratic forces from state and non-state development actors influence the activities, relationships, and identities of local volunteers through their interactions with written texts. As these bureaucratic ways of working permeate everyday volunteering practices, I will show how they ‘clash’ with more informal and flexible activities founded on community building and solidarity.