Promoting entities: Universidade da Coruña and Solidariedade Internacional de Galicia
Principal Investigators: Renée De Palma Úngaro and Miguel Samaniego Eguiguren
Other members of the research team: Laura Cruz López, Rosa María Méndez García, Araceli Serantes Pazos, María Barba Núñez, Uxía Hadaly Romero Bouzas, Luis Román Suárez Canedo, María José Caride, Eloi Fernández Ramos, Solangeles Ortiz Bedregal, Lorena Rilo Pérez and Paloma Longueira Gómez.
Funding body: Cooperación Galega da Xunta de Galicia. Grants to Galician universities for research projects and for the creation of research groups in the field of development cooperation.
Amount of funding: €30,000.
The project “Decolonising international cooperation outreach programmes” (DECO-UNI, PR815A-2025-00000018-00) aims to assess, from a participatory, critical and decolonial perspective, the impact of stays in the Global South on the training of students and teaching staff, as well as on the organisations that host these experiences. The research examines the PCR/PCC programmes of the University of A Coruña and similar initiatives within the Galician University System and northern Portugal, focusing on their effects on knowledge, attitudes and practices related to global citizenship education and development cooperation.
The project also seeks to identify possible dynamics of paternalism or the “saviour complex” and to propose strategies to prevent them. As an outcome, it will develop an ethical, participatory and replicable evaluation model that incorporates the voices of Global South organisations and contributes to improving university policies, strengthening North-South relations and promoting a more horizontal, transformative and just approach to cooperation.
Decolonising international cooperation outreach programmes: Participatory evaluation of university stays in the Global South (2025–2026)
