Overview
Humanitarian organizations, international agencies and governments serving populations affected by emergencies such as disasters and conflict increasingly find themselves working in urban settings. Agencies face considerable challenges and some potential advantages in these complex urban environments and are only just learning how to approach them. These new challenges take many forms such as density, infrastructure, complicated physical layouts, unprepared institutions, complex governance arrangements, a range of actors (often with competing interests) and a wide diversity within affected populations.
The Urban Humanitarian Emergencies Course, first held in 2013, is a four-day course organized by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative via its Lavine Family Humanitarian Studies Initiative to train humanitarian professionals on current issues, challenges and good practices involved in urban humanitarian emergencies. The course faculty and visiting experts are experienced in humanitarian training with on-the-ground experience with humanitarian crises in urban areas.
Topics covered in the course include issues, themes, challenges, and specific tools. These include:
- Urban resilience
- How cities work
- Urban assessments
- Civil-military coordination
- Cash and markets
- Coordination
- Urban displacement
- Health
- Diversity and inclusion
- Violence, conflict and fragile contexts
- GIS and mapping
Role Play Simulation: The course includes a simulation which takes place in two sessions held over two days concerning actions before and after a disaster event. Through role play, the simulation explores positions, attitudes, and compromises that need to be struck between different organizations and agencies.
Walking Activity: The first day of the workshop includes a walking activity in the city of Boston, in which participants will walk to and examine various urban features and vulnerabilities of the city. Participants will be expected to walk several miles over the course of the day. Please let us know if this presents an issue.
Instructors
The course combines resident instructors and visiting experts from NGOs, think tanks, and the military.
Resident instructors are:
Stephanie Kayden, MD, MPH - Associate Professor, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School
Dr. Kayden has worked to improve emergency medical systems, humanitarian aid, and disaster response in more than 40 countries. Dr. Kayden helped develop emergency medical care in Bhutan, Fiji, Nepal, Japan, Germany, Serbia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Israel and the Palestinian Territories. She provided disaster relief to survivors of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan, helped rebuild health systems for Burundian refugees in Tanzania, and led a team to improve rural public health in Uganda, and published research on the effects of conflict on health in Liberia. In 2010, Dr. Kayden helped establish one of the largest field hospitals for survivors of the earthquake in Haiti. She has taught health and human rights issues in more than 20 countries and helped create the curriculum behind the online Building a Better Response course. Stephanie is a core faculty member of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
David Sanderson, BA (Hons), DipArch, MSc, PhD - Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair of Architecture, UNSW Australia
David has over 30 years’ experience working across the world in development and emergencies. He worked for eight years for the NGO CARE International UK as head of policy and then as Regional Manager for Southern and West Africa. In 2006 David joined academia as Director of UK centre focusing on development and emergency practice. He has held full professorships in the UK, Norway and Australia and visiting professorships in Spain, France and the USA (Harvard University). David has held board positions at CARE, Norwegian Refugee Council and the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), where he chaired the Grants Panel. He has led multi-NGO evaluations of disaster response in Nepal, India, Pakistan, Haiti and Philippines. David wrote the 2019 ODI/ALNAP Urban Humanitarian Response Good Practice Review and was co-editor of the 2016 IFRC World Disasters Report focusing on resilience. David holds a doctorate in development and disasters.
Ronak Patel, MD, MPH - Director, Urbanization and Resilience Program, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Dr. Ronak Patel’s work focuses primarily on the challenges and opportunities presented by rapid urbanization for the health and well-being of vulnerable populations and for humanitarian crises. His research focuses on exposing and disaggregating cumulative risks and developing tools and interventions to mitigate these risks to health and development. His diverse studies have included projects on disaster microinsurance for local market recovery in India, slum upgrading impacts, resilience to urban violence in Columbia, social cohesion and disaster risk reduction in Haiti, indicators for vulnerability and early crisis in urban slums in Kenya, a framework for measuring urban fragility and resilience and gender-based insecurity in urban informal settlements. Current projects are investigating food security in conflict and fragile contexts as well as health system strengthening in fragile contexts. He works through community-based organizations (CBOs) and aid agencies to collect data and implement projects for marginal populations.
Intended Audience
NGO and UN workers, national and local government disaster preparedness planners, and others involved in emergency-phase response to disasters and humanitarian crises. Those interested in working in humanitarian emergencies are especially welcome. Classes will be held in English. To successfully participate in the course, we recommend that participants have at least a B2 English language level (CEFR).
Policies and Frequently Asked Questions
For more information and answers to your questions, including payment and cancellation policies, please see a page of frequently asked questions and policies for the course.
Contact Us
All questions, cancellations, and deferment requests should be submitted to: hhiurbancourse@gmail.com