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Issue 24

March 2011

Greetings!

The Harvard Humanitarian is a monthly e-newsletter compiled by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) to publicize news, publications, and events in the Harvard community related to advancing responses to humanitarian crises of war and disaster. Please help us make this a robust resource by contributing your Harvard community news items via email.

SPECIAL FEATURE: 'DISASTER RELIEF 2.0' REPORT

"Disaster Relief 2.0" Report Examines the Potential of Technology for Improving Humanitarian Response

On March 28th, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation released a landmark publication, written by researchers at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which examines how technology is reshaping the information landscape in which aid groups respond to sudden onset emergencies. The report, Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies, analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between them in future emergencies.

Written by a team of HHI researchers led by John Crowley and Jennifer Chan, the report is based on interviews with more than 40 technology and humanitarian experts, many of whom responded to the devastating January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The report identifies best practice and lessons learned from the Haiti operation; makes recommendations to strengthen coordination between the humanitarian and technology communities; and proposes a draft framework for institutionalizing this collaboration. The report is part of HHI's ongoing Crisis Mapping and Early Warning Program to advance the use of information communications technologies in conflict and disaster settings.

"For all the power that these new humanitarian communities bring to crisis response, they are still outside the formal system by which the United Nations coordinates emergency operations," wrote HHI Affiliate John Crowley in an article for the Huffington Post. "All lack the protections afforded to organizations that work under the official humanitarian system, including the shield of neutrality enshrined in the laws of armed conflict." Among a variety of findings, the report attempts to spur a dialogue between the formal (humanitarian) and informal (volunteer & technical) communities and proposes a framework for collaboration in future humanitarian crises. The authors write that there is a possibility to further develop these tools in four distinct arenas, and envisions the establishment of a Humanitarian Technology Forum, Humanitarian Innovation Lab, Humanitarian Information Coordination Cell, and Humanitarian Research and Training Consortium.

Already, the report has been discussed in the New York Times and on the UN Dispatch blog, and additional media coverage is accessible through HHI's recent news page. For more information or to download the Disaster Relief 2.0 report, please click here.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HHI Works to Support Recovery Efforts After Triple Disaster in Japan

HHI affiliate, Dr. Maya Arii, arranged to ship 9 tons of medical supplies to the disaster area in northern Japan.

On Friday, March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated parts of northern Japan. The most powerful quake ever recorded in Japan, this event triggered a tsunami that devastated the coastal areas of Tohoku and southern Hokkaido. As a result of the massive scale earthquake with major urban destruction, tsunamis, and major disruption of nearby nuclear power plants, the citizens of northern Japan are experiencing a humanitarian crisis unforeseen in the history of modern Japan. While Japan's earthquake and disaster preparedness capacity is the most sophisticated in the world, the magnitude of the disaster has created a situation that exposes several difficulties in the coordination of a response and the management of large populations displaced by the crisis.

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative has a significant history of engagement with Japanese colleagues in the areas of emergency health and disaster systems development. In addition to the relief team (composed entirely of Japanese emergency medical experts) to the disaster site, HHI has ongoing programs in developing emergency medical education and leadership, and hospital-based disaster response. While the Japanese engineering and civil preparedness is highly adapted to earthquake and tsunami preparedness, there is a lack of deep experience in management of hospital and medical resources for displaced populations. HHI is currently working with the Kobe Center for Health Development to enhance urban health assessment tools that can be adapted to urban disaster management. For more information on Harvard's response to the ongoing crisis, click here or here.

Government, Military, and NGO Leaders Meet at Harvard to Discuss Lessons from the Haiti Earthquake Response

During a roundtable discussion hosted by HHI, the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Crisis Leadership, Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Global Health, and the Harvard Global Health Institute, leaders from government, military, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) gathered to discuss the response to last year's devastating earthquake in Haiti and chart a path forward to improving future disaster response. Throughout the course of two days, attendees discussed the need to provide better training and logistical coordination for aid organizations and the difficulties that arose with registering the massive number of organizations that arrived in Haiti to help. For more information on these discussions and the ongoing analysis of last year's humanitarian response in Haiti, see the Harvard Gazette article here.

Applications Being Accepted for HHI's Cogan Fund for Humanitarian Studies

Cogan Fund Recipient in the DRC

HHI is pleased to be accepting applications for its 2011 summer funding program through the Cogan Family Fund for Humanitarian Studies. The fund enables students to obtain international experience and an understanding of the cross-disciplinary nature of humanitarian work. Students interested in advancing research, practice, and policy in the field of humanitarian assistance to populations affected by war, disaster, and other crises are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants are eligible to receive support for travel and research related expenses.

Applicants must be an enrolled undergraduate or graduate student at Harvard University for the full duration of the research project. For more information and to download the application guidelines, see HHI's Funding opportunities page here.

Eric James, HHI Fellow, Leads Effort to Assess Humanitarian Needs in Libya

Libya OCHA Map

As violence continues in Libya and hundreds of thousands have fled the country, a team of relief workers from the American Refugee Committee is traveling throughout the country, assessing humanitarian needs. Led by Eric James, HHI Fellow and ARC's Director of Program Development, the team aims to raise awareness and coordinate response to the rapidly-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya. For more information, visit the American Refugee Committee's website here.

HHI Affiliate Publishes Report on Transitional Justice in Darfur

A new report envisioned by Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah Eisa, HHI Affiliate and recipient of the 2007 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, has been released by the RFK Center for Justice & Human Rights and the California International Law Center at UC Davis School of Law. The report,Toward Peace with Justice in Darfur: A Framework for Accountability, analyzes the key transitional justice issues that Darfuris will confront when the violence ends. To download a copy of the report and for more information, click here.

Faculty Research in Bahrain Results in Amnesty International Report on Human Rights Abuses

After an international fact-finding team in Bahrain led by Dr. Hani Mowafi, HHI Faculty Affiliate and emergency care specialist, discovered a pattern of fatal and serious injuries exhibited by injured protestors in Bahrain, Amnesty International issued a report on the use of excessive force by police and soldiers against protesters and medical workers trying to treat the wounded. For more information, see Amnesty International's press release here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Event times, dates, and locations listed here are subject to change without notice. Please contact the event host for more information.

'Consequences of Conflict' Panel Discussion

Wednesday, April 13

4:00pm
677 Huntington Avenue

Boston, MA

Please join us for a multidisciplinary panel discussion tracing the effects of sexual violence on individuals, families, and communities in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The panel will feature:

Lwanzo Amani, Analyst, World Bank
Kate Burns, Senior Policy Officer for Gender Equality, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance
Amy Costello, Emmy-nominated Television and Radio Journalist
Jocelyn Kelly, Women in War Research Coordinator, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Moderated by Carol Cohn, Director, Consortium on Gender, Security, and Human Rights.

Open to the public, but photo ID required at entrance.

2011 Humanitarian Studies Course

The field simulation for the 2011 Humanitarian Studies Course will take place from April 15-17 at the Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover, MA. More than 100 graduate students, medical residents and NGO professionals from around the world will participate in this innovative exercise as the final piece of a two-week course, known as the Humanitarian Studies Initiative Program (HSI), which will result in a certificate in humanitarian response. The weekend is designed to prepare and equip the students with the skills and tools needed to effectively provide humanitarian assistance in any conflict or disaster. The timing and need for this simulation comes at an exceedingly crucial moment with the recent crises across the globe, which have required immediate, complex humanitarian response.

The responders-in-training will be evaluated by faculty experts as they spend three days camping in the forest and producing a feasible service delivery plan to provide immediate relief to refugees and internally displaced persons, who will be role-played by volunteers. These plans will include transportation routes, sanitation facilities, medical services and temporary shelter. The tasks must be completed under an intensifying security situation with military checkpoints, rebel attacks and security evacuations.

Please email Brian Daly at bdaly1@partners.org if you are interested in volunteering, and Sasha Chriss at schriss@hsph.harvard.edu with any media inquiries.

For more information visit our website here.

Gender & Security Seminar: 'Challenges and Opportunities Ahead'

Monday, April 25

5:00 - 7:00pm

Carr Center Conference Room (Rubenstein Building, Floor 2, Room 219)

Harvard Kennedy School of Government

In this final session of the semester, participants will have an opportunity to present and discuss challenges and opportunities to the field of gender and security. They will also be asked to complete a brief evaluation of the study group series. Feedback provided by participants will be used to inform the structure and content of future study groups or potential courses dedicated to the subject of gender, security and peace.

For more information, click here.

World Conference on Humanitarian Studies: Changing Realities of Conflict and Crisis

The Second World Conference of Humanitarian Studies (WCHS), organized by the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) and hosted by Tufts University (in collaboration with Harvard University, Columbia University and the Social Science Research Council) will take place June 2-5, 2011.

The conference marks a major step in ratcheting up the quality of our understanding of social dynamics in crisis and the greater use of evidence-based humanitarian programming. As with other professional fields, having a forum where cutting edge research can be presented and critiqued is a vital tool in moving the profession forward.

For more information, please visit the conference website.

'Deadly Medicine': Creating the Master Race

April 14, 2011 - July 17, 2011

Francis A. Countaway Library of Medicine

Harvard Medical School

In the 1920s and early 1930s, Germany was a young democracy. In a relatively short time afterward, the Nazis assumed power, launched World War II, and carried out the watershed events now known as the Holocaust. Many German physicians and scientists, including world leaders in their fields, willingly lent support to the Nazi ideology and helped legitimize and implement the regime's policies that culminated in the Holocaust. How was this possible in an educated and civilized society? The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has produced the special exhibition Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race to explore this question and its implications for our world today. For more information, click here.

PUBLICATIONS & PRESS

"Information technology opens new routes for emergency disaster relief - UN report," UN News Service, March 28, 2011.
"Report On Harnessing New Technologies Responds To A New Era In Emergency Communications," Medical News Today, March 29, 2011.
"The road ahead for information sharing in emergency response," IRIN Global, March 30, 2011.
Crowley, John, "Neo-Humanitarians: Technology and the Future of Humanitarian Aid,": Huffington Post, March 28, 2011.
DeCapua, Joe, "Satellite Images Show Build-up of Northern Forces in Sudan's Abyei Region," Voice of America, March 23, 2011.
Johnson, Akilah, and Irons, Meghan E., "Mass. medical teams sidelined in favor of technical aid," The Boston Globe, March 15, 2011.
Kannan, Preeti, "Facebook 'mobilises crisis relief'," The National (Abu Dhabi), March 29, 2011.
Lacey-Hall, Oliver, "How remote teams can help the rapid response to disasters," The Guardian, March 28, 2011.
Lee, Jae-Won, "After a Disaster, What Defines a Country's Resilience?" Time, March 16, 2011.
Libo-on, Lilly B., "UN official launches Haiti report," Khaleej Times, March 29, 2011.
Lohr, Steve, "Online Mapping Shows Potential to Transform Relief Efforts," New York Times, March 28, 2011.
Lyons WH, Burkle FM Jr, Diggs A, Ehnert T, "An influenza exercise in a major urban setting. II. Development of a health emergency operations center." American Journal of Disaster Medicine, July-August 2010.
Mitchell, Gareth and Thompson, Bill, "UN Disaster 2.0 report on using technology in the aftermath of a disaster," BBC World Service, March 30, 2011.
Nagata, Takashi, Reich, Michael, Thompson, Gordon, and VanRooyan, Michae, "WebForum: Response to the Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Crisis in Japan," Moderated by Jennifer Leaning at The Forum at the Harvard School of Public Health, March 16, 2011.
Powell, Alvin, "Harvard Pushes to aid Japan, The Harvard Gazette, March 17, 2011.
Powell, Alvin, "Tapping the 'information fire hose,'" Harvard Gazette, March 28, 2011.
Schorow, Stephanie, "Three Crises for Japan," The Harvard Gazette, March 17, 2011.
Smith EC, Burkle FM Jr, Archer FL, "Fear, familiarity, and the perception of risk: a quantitative analysis of disaster-specific concerns of paramedics," Disaster Med Public Health Prep, March 2011.
Subbarao I, Wynia MK, Burkle FM Jr., "The elephant in the room: collaboration and competition among relief organizations during high-profile disasters," Journal of Clinical Ethics, Winter 2010.
Waugaman, Adele, "TechnoTalk - Disaster Relief 2.0: How technology puts people at the heart of humanitarian aid," AlertNet, March 28, 2011.
Ziemke, Jenn, "Collaborating for Effective Response," ZDNet UK, March 28, 2011.
Ziemke, Jen, "Disaster Relief 2.0 Blog Series: Collaborating for Effective Response," UN Dispatch, March 28, 2011.

About The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
HHI fosters interdisciplinary collaboration at Harvard University in order to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian strategies for relief, protection, and prevention; instill human rights principles and practices in these strategies; and educate and train the next generation of humanitarian leaders. In 2005, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative was established as a University-wide interfaculty academic and research center, supported by the Office of the Provost and the Harvard School of Public Health with the participation of faculty from Harvard schools and affiliated hospitals. For more information, visit www.hhi.harvard.edu.