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Issue 31March 2012
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: WOMEN IN WAR PROGRAM

Director of Women in War Program Documents Public Health Needs in African Communities Destabilized by Militia Violence


DTJ Image
Photo courtesy of Lindsay Branham/Discover the Journey
The militant group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a 25-year campaign of fear in Uganda which has since spread to neighboring Sudan, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), killing and mutilating tens of thousands of people, looting communities, and abducting children for forced conscription. Last fall, U.S. President Barack Obama shone an international spotlight on the group's horrific practices when he announced that he was sending 100 U.S. troops to advise countries battling the LRA and hunting for the its fugitive leader Joseph Kony.

 

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is working to document the destabilizing effect that the LRA has had on the region. In January, Jocelyn Kelly, director of HHI's Women in War program, traveled to northern DRC in January with documentarian Lindsay Branham, program director for Discover the Journey (DTJ), a co-collaborator on the project.

 

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. Kelly 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.  

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Satellite Sentinel Project Argues for "People Protection Standards 1.0" and Ethical Compass in Crisis Mapping 

 

Global Brief cover Throughout 2011, new uses of data to obtain information and to coordinate political action have not only transformed rapid responses to political unrest and natural disasters, but have begun to fundamentally alter the nature and arc of emergencies. Crisis mappers (and other actors behind the rapid deployment of these capabilities to identify and mitigate threats to vulnerable populations) are this era's first responders, as it were. In light of this situation, a recent article written by staff members of the Satellite Sentinel Project calls for the development of  an "ethical compass" for this emerging crisis mapping community.

To further this goal, Satellite Sentinel Project has published a call to action to the crisis mapping community, entitled People Protection Standards 1.0. SSP argues that there is an unparalleled opportunity to use information communication technologies (ICT) for disaster early warning, civilian protection, mass atrocity documentation, and humanitarian response, but that the community must ensure that crisis mapping activities do not unwittingly increase the number of civilians being harmed.

Satellite Sentinel Project is a collaborative endeavor combining satellite imagery, on-the-ground field reporting, and crisis mapping systems into a unified monitoring platform to detect, deter, and document threats to vulnerable populations. HHI runs the research, operational, and technical components of the Satellite Sentinel Project from our offices on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

Humanitarian Studies Initiative Call for Volunteers

 

Humanitarian Studies CourseOn April 26-29th, the Humanitarian Studies Initiative (HSI) will once again simulate a humanitarian crisis in an exciting weekend-long educational exercise at Harold Parker State Forest, just north of Boston, and we need your help! The HSI Simulation Exercise is designed to be an education space where participants can practice the skills and concepts they have been studying while in their respective programs. Every effort is made to create a realistic environment for the participants, and A LOT of help is needed to carry this out! We are looking for volunteers to provide hands-on assistance for various activities (from role play to logistics and transportation) beginning Thursday, April 26th through midday Sunday, April 29th. If you are interested or would like more information, please let us know using this Google Form. 

 

For more information, please visit our website here.

 

 

Fellow Travels to Uganda for HIV/AIDS Research

     

Fellow Kelli O'Laughlin was awarded a grant from the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research for her proposal: "Routine HIV testing in an outpatient department in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Southwest Uganda." She traveled to Uganda in January to meet with collaborators (UNHCR and Medical Teams International) to plan the research which will occur throughout 2012.


Harvard GSAS Hosts Public Service Seminar with Faculty Member Dr. Stephanie Kayden 

     

Interested in how universities respond to humanitarian crises? Want to explore the role that academia plays in public service, broadly-defined?

On Thursday, March 22, at 6pm, Dudley House Public Service will host a dessert seminar with Professor Stephanie Kayden, HHI Associate Faculty Member to discuss these topics. Professor Kayden is an International Emergency Medicine specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, and a 1996 Dudley graduate.  Professor Kayden directs the Harvard International Emergency Medicine Fellowship program, and her work has taken her to many places in the world, including to Ethiopia, Haiti, Mali, Nepal, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda. For more information on this event, please click here.  
 

 

 

HHI Accepting Applications for Student Internships

 

Cogan Fund Recipient in the DRC HHI offers paid internships each year to Harvard undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning about the role of academia in humanitarian response, and is currently accepting applications for its upcoming internship programs. Interns support the staff, faculty, and fellows of HHI by participating in the daily operations of the organization. For more information on what HHI's stellar interns do, please click here for a feature on former intern Danielle Gram.   

 

HHI is accepting applications for term-time and summer internships, and these penings can be viewed through the Harvard Student Employment Office Jobs Database (please login and search "Harvard Humanitarian Initiative").   

 

 

UPCOMING EVENTS                                                              

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

 

  

Fighting and Helping? Domestic Politics and NGO-Military Relationships in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Brown Bag Seminar

 

Brownbaglunchthumbnail Thursday, March 15
12:15-2:00 PM
Belfer Center Library, Littauer - 369
Harvard Kennedy School of Government 

During complex humanitarian emergencies-crises relations between humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGO)s and military organizations vary widely, ranging from hostility to cooperation. In some cases, NGOs and military organizations define forms of coordination to avoid duplication-they cooperate and even launch projects together. In others, however, they refuse to cooperate and even engage in vigorous and public mutual recrimination. Why?

Led by Research Fellow
Chiara Ruffa, this seminar will explore empirically the challenges of these disputed boundaries and the ways in which humanitarian NGOs and military organizations face them in their areas of operation during the course of their missions. For more information, click here.

Leading from the Bass Line: A Cellist's Journey as a Humanitarian 

 

Monday, March 19
6:00-8:00PM 
Plimpton Room, Barker Center, Harvard University
12 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA 

A lecture by John Crowley, MA, MPA -- HHI Program on Crisis Dynamics

Sponsored by HHI, the Cultural Agents Initiative, and the Mahindra Humanities Center 


Coping Strategies of Indonesian Humanitarian Volunteers: Personal, Organizational, Cultural, and Policy Dimensions

Wednesday, March 21
12:00-1:30 PM

 Suite 100, 124 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, MA

Speaker: Maria Nelden Djakababa, HKS Indonesia Research Fellow

In this brownbag presentation, Ms. Djakababa will discuss her research on post-traumatic growth and psychological well being of disaster response volunteers, focusing specifically on Indonesian Red Cross personnel who responded to the major earthquake that hit Yogyakarta and Central Java in 2007. Special attention will be given to the narrative-based analysis of the coping strategies employed by the volunteers, taking into account the Javanese culture-based approach to adversity. She will also discuss how this coping process can be supported by humanitarian organizations and disaster management policies.

Moderated by Arnold M. Howitt, Faculty Co-Director, HKS Program on Crisis Leadership

Sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Crisis Leadership, the Harvard Kennedy School Indonesia Program, and the Harvard University Asia Center.

For more information, email [email protected].


Protecting Human Rights through the Mechanism of UN Special Rapporteurs

Thursday, March 22
12 PM
Wasserstein 3018
Harvard Law School

Sponsored by the Human Rights Program and International Legal Studies; a talk by Surya Subedia, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia, and a Professor of International Law, University of Leeds. Lunch will be served.

For more information, click here.


Carr Center Gender and Security Seminar Series: "The Promises, Challenges, and Implications of Implementing the US NAP in Afghanistan" 

Carr Center logo Tuesday, March 27
4:00-5:00 PM
Littauer 380 (Watkins)
Harvard Kennedy School of Government

The Gender and Security Seminar Series is a public forum to discuss current developments in the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (UN 1325).Over a decade ago, UN Security Council's ground-breaking resolution UN 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, called for measures to increase women's security and agency in peace building are steadily increasing. To-date, the international community has focused on increasing women's participation in peace-building. However, participation alone does not guarantee gender equality in peace and security initiatives. Policy makers and practitioners need to understand the gendered dimensions of conflict and post-conflict situations in order to put the principles of UN 1325 -- participation, prevention, and protection --into action.

The US unveiled its first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security in December 2011, and federal agencies are now mandated by an Executive Order on Women, Peace and Security to implement the plan throughout their programs and policies.This session will be led by Brenda Opperman, member of the Commander ISAF Advisory and Assistance Team (COMISAF/CAAT), former Chief of Party Baghdad Office, United States Institute of Peace.

For more details, please click here.


Art in Action: Creative Governance For Crisis Situations

Speaker: Professor Antanas Mockus, former mayor of Bogot� , Colombia
Thursday, April 5
6:00PM
Belfer Room at CGIS, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA

Sponsors: Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Cultural Agents Initiative, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and the Colombian Consulate in Boston
Host: Harvard Mahindra Humanities Center 
 

 

PUBLICATIONS & PRESS                                                        

 


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.