Our Mission
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a university-wide center involving multiple entities within the Harvard community that provide expertise in public health, medicine, social science, management, and other disciplines to promote evidence-based approaches to humanitarian assistance.
The mission of the Initiative is to relieve human suffering in war and disaster by advancing the science and practice of humanitarian response worldwide. HHI fosters interdisciplinary collaboration in order to:
- Improve the effectiveness of humanitarian strategies for relief, protection and prevention;
- Instill human rights principles and practices in these strategies;
- Educate and train the next generation of humanitarian leaders.
Issue in Focus
From Research to Policy Recommendations: Julia VanRooyen & PHR Visit the Hill
HHI Fellow, Dr. Julia VanRooyen briefed members of Congress on conditions in Darfur refugee camps. The brief followed the recent release of the Obama Administration's Sudan Policy Review. HHI and the Physicians for Human Rights released a report earlier this year on the subject titled: "Nowhere To Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women."
Homepage News
Characterizing Violence in the DRC
Read our latest report on violence's implications for the protection of women in the DRC.
2009 Humanitarian Action Summit Report Released
The report presents challenges to humanitarian response and policy recommendations.
Homepage Events
Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation: Routes Through Empowerment
Join HHI Monday, November 16th from 7-9PM in the Tsai Auditorium for this Inter-communal Violence and Reconciliation Project event.