Une ONG au risque de l’engagement : participation et coordination des bénévoles, militants et salariés

Abstract

From the outset, Amnesty International France (AIF) has presented itself as a "volunteer and activist movement". Over time, the NGO has undergone a well planned evolution that has fostered a stronger audience and influence. Today, this growing reputation has been accompanied by a professionalization of its structures, marked in particular by a significant recruitment of new members as well as new employees. These changes are not without their problems. Thus, volunteers appear to lack recognition and activists sometimes feel dispossessed of their prerogatives in favour of employees perceived as "people passing through", less immersed in the history, values ​​and identity of the movement, in other words "less militant". We will therefore focus on how the changes affecting AIF alter the way in which participants are involved in the associative project according to their status (volunteer, activist, employee). At a time when distinctions are becoming increasingly blurred (volunteer work, employee commitment), how does the NGO manage to organize everyone's work without adversely affecting volunteer participation and activist commitment? How does it manage, at the same time, to manage and care for individuals?