A work entitled The Popular Initiatives of International Solidarity (1) focusses on a phenomenon that is both very popular and little-known. This is the phenomenon of popular Initiatives of International Solidarity (IPSIs) or projects of international Cooperation set up by unrecognized groups that are not approved by governments. These initiatives are distinguished from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), “customary” partners to the federal state as participants in the area of indirect bilateral aid. 620 IPSIs were identified in French-speaking Belgium. This is way more than the number of approved NGOs for the same area. And yet these IPSIs receive little attention from national Medias and even less from the scientific world as though they lack even the most basic respectability. The obvious question arising from this work is the following: In the current context of development cooperation marked by a permanent incentive for efficiency and professionalization, what contribution can popular initiatives of international solidarity created and managed by “ordinary citizens” make, given that the lack of institutional recognition casts them as “amateurs”? In other words: what contribution is made by these IPSIs in the field of current cooperation? This work has the stated objective of attracting the reader’s attention to these so-called “small” operators in the field of international aid, those “ordinary citizens” who initiate cooperation activities for the benefit of “others far away”.

Expressing solidarity: from post-colonial duty to post-modern law?

Commitment to cooperation by “ordinary” citizens for others who live far away is not a new phenomenon.
But the interest in IPSIs can be explained by the evolution of modern societies where, on one hand, the citizen is caught in a tide of different causes forcing him or her to open up to the world and its suffering, its conflicts and its threats. On the other hand, a new set of factors seems to indicate the advent of a hyper-individualistic narcissistic individual who is locked into his or her private sphere, living a life full of experiences where sensations replace feelings in the long-term. Half a century after the end of the colonial era and the implementation of modern forms of cooperation, we can legitimately question whether there is a renewal of the commitment of citizens to those others far away.   

Julie Godin, a research fellow at the FRS-FNRS in the Socio-Anthropology Development Service of the University of Liege, explains: “We noticed that it is not really global communication that plays a large role in the commitment of IPSI activists but rather the ‘good old formula’ of direct contact (face-to-face) between a potential beneficiary and a possible supplier of aid on the occasion of a stay in a foreign country, typically a southern country. The motivation behind such commitments seems to have changed and the colonial burden is no longer felt by the IPSI activists, in particular among younger activists who are less aware of the death throes of the colonial area. International cooperation is perhaps not a duty carried out in the name of moral principles and the reparation of a fault but is a right granted to everyone and asserted by this “ordinary” citizen who is on a quest of personal satisfaction and new sensations”.

The first mapping of IPSIs in French-speaking Belgium

The first part of a work by the authors presents the general framework of analysis by suggesting ways of thinking about the issues raised by these initiatives in the field of current international cooperation and presents a study of the situation of IPSIs in French-speaking Belgium by mapping these initiatives. The second part provides a more in-depth look at the ways of thinking mentioned above by hearing the opinions of actors in the area of humanitarian cooperation. The four chapters involve an account of a study day organized at the University of Liege on April 20 2012 where more than 80 participants, mostly from the world of Belgian international cooperation were able to exchange their ideas on IPSIs based on the results of a survey conducted by Julie Godin and also based on experiences observed mainly in France and Holland. By means of a round table and three workshops, the participants were encouraged to think about issues of institutional recognition and the condition of professionalization for these initiatives as well as the relationship between the IPSIs and approved NGOs to try to grasp the importance of these so-called “small operators” in the world of contemporary international cooperation.