ethical framework

The Global Peoples’ Educational Forum is committed to non-extractive, accountable, and community-led knowledge practices. This Ethical Framework sets out the standards that govern how the Forum gathers testimony, stores and shares information, protects participants from harm, and holds itself accountable to the communities it serves. The framework will apply to all Forum activities, including hearings, oral history projects, artistic testimony, popular education workshops, and community forums. It will also apply to the digital archive and any research outputs produced under the Forum’s name.

Consent will be continuous and community-led. Before any testimony is gathered, the Forum will provide clear information about how the testimony will be used, who will have access to it, for what purposes, and for how long. Consent will be recorded in writing. Witnesses may withdraw their consent at any time, and their testimony will be removed from public access. For testimony that includes collective knowledge or culturally sensitive material, the relevant community authority must also give consent. Consent will be revisited at each stage of the Forum’s work.

Participants will control their own testimony. Each witness will decide how their testimony is attributed. They may choose to be identified by name, to use a pseudonym, or to have their testimony attributed to their community rather than to themselves individually. They may decide which parts of their testimony are made public and which parts are restricted to specific researchers or held entirely in confidence. These choices will be recorded in the archive’s metadata and enforced through access controls. Testimony will be published only when the witness has given explicit permission for that publication.

The Forum will minimise harm and prevent re-traumatisation. All truth-telling processes will be designed through trauma-informed practices. Witnesses may have a support person present during testimony. Breaks will be offered regularly. Counselling or cultural support will be available before, during, and after testimony. Witnesses will choose how much to share, and the Forum will not pressure them to disclose more than they wish. The Forum’s staff and volunteers will receive training in trauma-informed practice and cultural safety. The Forum will also provide support for the secondary trauma that may affect those who listen to testimony.

The archive will belong to the communities who contributed to it. The Forum’s digital archive will be governed by Indigenous Data Sovereignty and cognitive justice principles. Communities will retain ownership of their stories. The Archive Governance Policy, published on the Forum’s website, will specify who can access which materials, for what purposes, and under what conditions. Access will be granted by the relevant community authority, with the Forum acting as steward rather than owner. The Forum will sell no testimony to third parties and will license no testimony for commercial use. Long-term preservation will be secured through partnership with a trusted heritage organisation, with control remaining with the communities.

Testimony will be held in relationship, not extracted. The Forum will approach communities as partners in a shared political and pedagogical process. Testimony will be gathered through methods that centre the witness’s wellbeing and autonomy. These methods will include Maatzoedzaduara-style action-learning circles, where testimony is prepared collectively and with care. The Forum will remain accountable to the witness for how their story is used and represented throughout the life of the project.

The Forum will hold itself accountable to communities. The Forum will establish accountability mechanisms that are community-led. These mechanisms will include regular assemblies where participating communities can raise concerns, a complaints process that is accessible and confidential, and the right of any community to withdraw from the Forum’s processes without penalty. The Steering Collective will be responsible for upholding these accountability mechanisms.

Institutions that benefit(ed) from empire will not capture the process. Universities, museums, foundations, and civil society organisations may support the Forum’s work through funding, hosting hearings, or contributing expertise. Any institution that benefited materially from British imperialism must disclose that benefit as a condition of participation. Such institutions will hold no decision-making power over the Forum’s mandate, evidence-gathering methods, interpretation of testimony, or recommendations.

Disputes will be resolved through restorative processes. When conflicts arise within the Forum or between the Forum and a participating community, the Forum will first seek resolution through facilitated dialogue, mediation, or traditional dispute resolution practices as requested by the community involved. The Forum’s dispute resolution procedures will be published on its website.

This framework is a living document. The Ethical Framework will be reviewed every two years in consultation with participating communities. Amendments will be made only with the consent of the communities affected. The framework will evolve as the Forum learns from practice.