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Volunteerism and participatory art: A very powerful combination
About the author:
Dr. Chrissie Thakwalakwa (photo) led the case study research for Malawi for the UNV’s 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report. She is a Public Health, Nutrition and Research Specialist and the Deputy Director and Head of Research and Training with the Centre for Social Research of the University of Malawi. Her research interests include Public Health and Nutrition.
Elita Chamdimba was a case study researcher for Malawi for the UNV’s 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report. She is a Research Fellow at the University of Malawi’s Centre for Social Research, and a PhD candidate in social work at the University of Strathclyde. Her research interests include adolescents, youth, gender and disability studies.
Chrissie and Elita share their perspectives as researchers for the UNV’s 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, and on volunteerism and participatory arts in Malawi in the commentary below.
Volunteerism and participatory art: A very powerful combination
Volunteerism is an essential part of development, be it at the community level or at the state level. It is a powerful means of reaching, involving and engaging different people including marginalized groups in development processes. Through participatory arts, volunteers and various stakeholders come together to learn from each other and work together – what a beautiful process!
This is what inspired researchers at the University of Malawi to undertake a case study research as part of our contribution towards the 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report. We were thrilled at the possibility of examining the relationship between volunteerism and participatory arts as well as understanding how volunteerism can contribute to building an inclusive society for Malawians. This exercise brought together a combination of elements: our personal interest in the arts and the interest to understand more on volunteerism for development.
For a long time, art and volunteerism have existed as two separate spheres. Until our interaction with Art and Global Health Centre (ArtGlo), we did not appreciate or realize that when the two come together, the results are very strong. For example, during the data collection phases through interviews with state representatives and focus group discussions with youth groups from ArtGlo’s programs, we saw how the marginalized groups were able to voice out their concerns in a friendly manner, and the service providers or state representatives responded in a positive way because of the use of arts.
Indeed, some of the art forms that ArtGlo uses, including cultural song, traditional dances, theatre for development, and poetry by youth are effective tools. Hearing and understanding the use of art in the local Malawian communities led us to pose a reflective question within ourselves – why is art so powerful?
Perhaps the simplest answer to this question is that art unleashes our creativity and inherently everyone is by nature a creative being. Art is powerful platform for expressing that inner creativity in a way that can potentially influence change in, say, culture, politics, and even the state services. The discovery of arts for development in this light made more sense – because how can one positively change a community or a state without involving the key elements that the people identify with? – elements such as culture and tradition. Embedded in art is culture, traditions and collective identity - a powerful tool that can make real-life changes.
We saw this in practice during the case study research when ArtGlo brought together the volunteers, community members, service providers and state representatives for the common good. ArtGlo’s participatory arts-based model enables volunteers to bring in their own identity, culture and values to their development work with local actors as well as with state representatives. One ArtGlo’s programs called Make Art for Sustainable Action (MASA) is geared especially towards women and ending gender-based violence. MASA applies art through performances such as theater and film in order to spark deep conversations about action in the local community for issues such as gender-based violence (GBV), nutrition for children and women, sexual reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.
The use of art in volunteerism is generally useful especially for such sensitive topics such as GBV and trauma as ArtGlo has demonstrated. But beyond that, the Malawi case study recognized that art as a participatory tool is relevant for local communities within villages in rural Malawi where levels of literacy are significantly lower. Art removes barriers of illiteracy because it is not about the ability to read or write, but rather it’s about the possibility to express oneself emotionally. Therefore, in many ways, art is a universal language that empowers all people, regardless of their social status to voluntarily participate. It is no wonder that through this case study experience, we really witnessed more inclusion at both community and state level.
ArtGlo’s work does not simply stop at the community, rather it take the community to the state and bring the state to the community. This is done by engaging existing government structures such as police staff from victim support units or health workers or the district youth officer. When these state representatives come together in the same space with youth and women volunteers from the community, participatory arts bridge the gap by allowing both parties to be heard, respected and valued. The outcome after such engaging and vibrant meetings is positive change!
Something that seemed so hard to voice out before, suddenly becomes audible and respected. ArtGlo gave an example of this in Mchinji district in central region of Malawi, a place that had not had an officially-appointed public authority complaints office in a long time. But something new happened; after one of ArtGlo’s participatory sessions where minority groups were invited to participate together with state health workers and police officer: this issue was raised. And as an outcome of this session - for the first time an ombudsman office was set up in this area to address the issues raised by the minority groups in ArtGlo’s sessions. That is the effect of participatory arts!