Salut Daniel, You may well be interested to note that there is a major international conference being held in Geneva from 26th to the 28th of October that is jointly organised by CERAH and ELRHA. The conference aims to forge dialogue and understand and critically assess the field of humanitarian studies, education, training and learning. This two-and-a-half day event will contribute to increased collaboration within and across the humanitarian and academic sectors in identifying and implementing solutions to recognised challenges. The specific objectives are to:
- Strengthen dialogue and links between the two sectors - humanitarian and academic, and its different cultures in order to discuss and critically assess the field of humanitarian studies education;
- Catalyse continued or new collaborative efforts related to education and training of humanitarian workers in the core humanitarian studies curriculum, and in the development of competency frameworks for the training of humanitarian workers;
- Identify strategies, next steps and key challenges to scaling-up training and education provision for national humanitarian workforces and in countries responding to or at risk of humanitarian crises Whilst this is a free conference, registration is by invitation-only. However it is easy enough to read about this on the conference website (see below), where there are a number of useful background documents... www.humanitarianeducation.org You're also of course encouraged to link in to the key movers and shakers of this... Interestingly enough I am in the process of being contracted by Deakin University to help them develop a new Master in Humanitarian Assistance (MHA), and we will, to a large extent, be basing our syllabus around recommendations coming out of conferences such as these (as they are very much focussed on the current thinking related to the professionalization of the of the humanitarian sector). As an addendum you might want to note the material covered in our own (TorqAid) (see www.torqaid.com) accredited Disaster Risk Management (DRM) workshops, the next one coming up (in Melbourne) in early November. The case studies for this include the current Horn of Africa drought; the 2009 Victorian bushfires; and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The workshop brochure also includes a useful Selected DRM Bibliography. Cheers & good luck. Chris |
