Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

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June 11-13, 2012
Professionals and leaders in public health, medicine, law, development, education, humanitarian intervention, and economics are increasingly expected to integrate human rights in policy and programs. This course will equip decision-makers with the skills necessary to apply methods and practices grounded in basic human rights.

 

HHI, UN OCHA Release New Report - Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies

Issue in Focus

Introducing The Humanitarian Academy at Harvard

HHI is proud to announce the establishment of the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard, a new comprehensive training program for humanitarian workers. The mission of the Humanitarian Academy is to drive positive change in the humanitarian sector through rigorous undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and training in the theory and practice of humanitarian action, and it aims to help thousands around the world who work in war zones, help in the wake of natural disasters, or serve in other relief settings.

A University-wide center that uses research to improve aid response, the Humanitarian Academy will engage Harvard faculty from multiple disciplines, providing an integrated curriculum, and leveraging the latest technologies to make available innovative teaching and professional education opportunities that are grounded in field-based realities. The Academy will include the Lavine Family Humanitarian Studies Initiative, an existing training program for humanitarian professionals that was recently expanded through a gift from Harvard alumni Jonathan and Jeannie Lavine.

There also will be a new, interdisciplinary concentration in humanitarian studies, ethics, and human rights, to be offered at the Harvard School of Public Health beginning in 2013, and hands-on training through internships with relief agencies. It will create a professional pathway for students and existing workers in the humanitarian space, serve as a prototype for other academic centers of excellence in humanitarian education, and encourage an international movement to increase the impact of humanitarian relief efforts through a focus on both professional skill building and rigorous measurement and analysis of what really works in humanitarian aid.

For more information, please see HHI's Humanitarian Academy page or a recent article in the Harvard Gazette on its launch.

Homepage Events

May 14-18 and May 21-25, 2012 |  Advanced Professional Trainings on Humanitarian Assistance and Protection

Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Prevention is pleased to announce two upcoming trainings in Bangkok, Thailand. The Core Professional Training on Leadership and Management of Humanitarian Action takes place over five full days and serves as a unique opportunity to further refine the knowledge, competencies, and skills necessary to address contemporary humanitarian challenges faced by managers and team leaders in the context of humanitarian response.

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Home > Programs & Research > Women in War

Women in War

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About the Program

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative's (HHI) Women in War program seeks to investigate and address women's needs in today's most troubled settings. HHI's network of diverse faculty, fellows, and researchers examines pressing issues that impact women's security throughout the world. Our projects emphasize the unique vulnerabilities women face in humanitarian settings, including gender-based violence, other forms of exploitation and abuse, and economic insecurity. Our research identifies some of the consequences of social instability and violence on women's livelihoods as well as the key role women can play as agents of social change. Our work highlights the ways in which women are vital actors in their communities - advocates for change, businesspeople, service providers, and leaders. HHI's research attempts to capture the complexities and nuances of these roles and to explore how women interact with other actors.

 

HHI's investigations inform approaches to reduce the vulnerability of women in conflict and support community-level resilience strategies. The Women in War program employs a participatory research approach grounded in collaborations with international and local non-governmental organizations and community-based associations. This approach helps us bring the voices of the experts – the women affected by violence and instability – to practitioners and policy makers to catalyze the development of more effective programming. The program's goal is to translate the knowledge gained from working with affected communities into timely and impactful programming and policy.

 

Issue in Focus

dtj imageIn January, Jocelyn Kelly, MS, director of the Women in War program, traveled with a colleague from Discover the Journey to explore the effects of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) on communities in northeastern DRC. The LRA has continued to move from northern Uganda into neighboring countries, including DRC, wreaking havoc as they continue their campaign of abducting children for forced conscription. Jocelyn, along with Lindsay Branham of Discover the Journey, investigated the impact these communities feel from the LRA's presence; the protection mechanisms they have created; and if the LRA uses child soldiers differently than other armed groups in DRC. For more on this project, please read this interview with Women in War Director Jocelyn Kelly: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/features/humanitarian-research-drc-lra.html.

(Image courtesy of Discover the Journey.)

 

 

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Research Projects

The Women in War program understands the multifaceted nature of issues related to women in conflict and works to pursue multiple avenues of research and intervention at once. Learn more about the research projects here.
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Strategic Partnerships

The Women in War program works closely with local organizations in research and clinical partnerships to address the needs of those in crisis. Read more about our strategic partnerships here.

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Impact in Programming and Policy

Our research is conducted with the goal of generating results that can be translated into programming and policy on the ground in a timely way. Working with grass-roots and international organizations ensures that findings from research have impact at multiple levels. Read more about our impact in programming and policy here.
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In the Media

HHI faculty, fellows, and researchers are seen, heard, and read in numerous media outlets that cover sexual violence in conflict situations. They have recently appeared in and on BBC News, The Economist, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, PRI's "The World," and PBS "Wide Angle," among others. For the full list of the Women in War program's presence in the media, go here. For a multimedia feature on the Women in War program's work in the DRC, go here.

 

Publications

Below are the most recently published reports from the Women in War program. For the full list of the program's publications, go here.

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Engaging African Voices on Kony

By Lindsay Branham and Jocelyn Kelly

A critical perspective has been missing from the conversation resulting from the Kony 2012 campaign: that of those currently living in Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) affected areas.The voices of affected individuals and communities should be at the center of this swelling chorus of opinions . If they were, perhaps the clamor of criticism could quiet long enough to hear what is being asked of humanitarians, academics, policy makers, and global citizens.

Opinion: Rape Traumatizes All Congolese, Not Just Women

By Jocelyn Kelly

Many programs exist in eastern DRC today that assist with the medical and psychological needs of survivors – these programs can be live saving and are desperately important. But women here do not live in a void. They deeply affect those around them and are affected by those people in turn. Ignoring the needs of the family and community networks in which these women work and live means that the international community is ignoring the holistic needs of the women they are trying to serve.
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Hope for the Future Again: Tracing the effects of sexual violence and conflict on families and communities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Jocelyn Kelly, Michael VanRooyen, Justin Kabanga, Beth Maclin and Colleen Mullin

This report outlines how violence in general, and sexual violence in particular, has changed the family foundations, economies and community structures of those touched by it in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Analyzing data from focus group discussions with a range of community members in the area, it suggests recommendations for serving the holistic needs of regions affected by sexual violence.
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Capacity Building for Fistula Repair in Eastern DRC

By Julia Van Rooyen

This report includes a detailed evaluation of the clinical, surgical and managerial capacity at Panzi Hospital, and also capacity evaluations of hospitals in Kaziba, Kalonge, Walungu, Uvira, Kakawende, Kaniola, and Nyatende.
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Rape in War: Motives of Militia in DRC

By Jocelyn Kelly

"Rape in War: Motives of Militia in the DRC" is a special report commissioned by United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on sexual and gender-based violence, which uniquely examines the experiences of armed combatants in this conflict. The report is a qualitative analysis of interviews conducted with the Mai Mai militia in the DRC and looks at the experiences of armed combatants with the aim of revealing potential avenues for intervention.

 
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Now, The World Is Without Me: An Investigation of Sexual Violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

By Susan Bartels, Michael VanRooyen, Jennifer Leaning, Jennifer Scott, and Jocelyn Kelly, April 2010.

‘Now, The World Is Without Me', is an in-depth report commissioned by Oxfam America and carried out by HHI.  The study analyzes data from female rape survivors who were treated in Panzi Hospital in South Kivu Province over a five-year period.  The analysis revealed an alarming increase in civilian perpetrators of rape.
nowheretoturnjpg125 Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women

Nowhere to Turn is a report documenting the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad. The report is based on a scientific study, conducted in partnership with Physicians for Human Rights, of women's accounts of rape and other crimes against humanity that they have experienced in Darfur, as well as rape and deprivations of basic needs in refugee camps in Chad.
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Characterizing Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Profiles of Violence, Community Responses, and Implications for the Protection of Women

This report uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Results from this report show the sexual violence perpetrated by armed actors in the DRC has features that indicate rape is being used as a weapon of war. The violence in DRC embodies a new kind of war emerging in the 21st century - one that occurs in villages more than battlefields and affects more civilians than armed combatants.

Lead Researchers

Jocelyn Kelly, MS
Director of the Women in War Program, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Susan Bartels, MD, MPH
Department of Emergency Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard University

Sadia Hader, MD, MPH
Division Director of Family Planning, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Jen Scott, MD, MBA
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Julia VanRooyen, MD
Visiting Scientist, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH, FACEP
Director of Harvard Humanitarian Initiative