About the project

Beyond volunteering, relationality: How is mutual aid organized on the margins?

The main goal of this research is to explore how mutual aid is organized on the margins. The aim is to understand the logics of exchange that operate outside the institutionalized voluntary sector, and to identify how they bring together those who engage in them. The project has three specific objectives: (a) to highlight and give visibility to mutual aid practices that are under-researched and under-reported, through three case studies of non-formalized mutual aid communities; (b) to develop, with the actors involved in these initiatives, alternative models to market exchange, which increasingly characterizes volunteering and, more broadly, our contemporary societies; and (c) to shed theoretical light on these new forms of mutual aid organization. To find out more.

On this website, you’ll find various resources: research results; research reports; the latest activities of the research team; an overview of academic literature; and a selection of articles on the themes of informal volunteering, mutual aid and relationality. We have included a detailed summary of the articles, suitable for all types of reader. You’ll also find pages devoted to our past activities. To find out more.