OLS: Trends and Challenges

In its third Online Learning Session on Trends and Challenges of Humanitarian Action, Professor Alastair Ager gave a presentation on psychology, trauma, and staff wellness in humanitarian action. This session focused on the following:

- Stressors in humanitarian work and their effects.

- Organizational factors influencing the impact of stressors.

- The effect of anxiety and burnout on humanitarian effectiveness.

- The differences between local and international staff in terms of stressors faced in their work.

You can read more about the session and take the assessments at https://phap.org/OLS-TCHA-3

In its fourth Online Learning Session on Trends and Challenges of Humanitarian Action, Erin Kenny gave a presentation on addressing gender based violence in emergencies.

Learning objectives

- An ability to define gender-based violence

- An understanding of the principles that guide our work to address GBV in humanitarian contexts

- Familiarity with the elements of effective GBV programming in humanitarian contexts

To read more about this session and to take the assessments, visit https://phap.org/OLS-TCHA-4

This learning session featured guest speaker Prof Alastair Ager, who provided a brief overview of the history of the relationship between religion and humanitarian action.

Humanitarian agencies across the globe are seeking to come to terms with the religiosity that so clearly continues as a major influence in today's world.. But how are they to engage with religion, when humanitarianism holds neutrality, impartiality and modernity so centrally to its credentials? Is it not a violation of the very identity of the humanitarian to wade into such partisan territory?

This learning session provided a brief overview of the history of the relationship between religion and humanitarian action. It also looked at recent and current initiatives in the humanitarian sector, highlighting challenges, recommendations, and examples of good practice that have been identified.

For more resources and assessments relating to this session, please go to https://phap.org/OLS-TCHA-1

In the context of growing humanitarian needs and increasingly limited resources, finding innovative solutions to reducing human suffering is critical. However, the humanitarian sector lacks organizational frameworks, resources, and tools dedicated to managing innovation, and innovation strategies are rarely systematically adapted and applied to humanitarianism.

The past few years have seen an influx of initiatives looking at fostering innovation in humanitarian action, including the ICRC-led Global Partnership for Humanitarian Impact and Innovation (GPHI2); the Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF); the Humanitarian Innovation Project (HIP) at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford; dedicated innovation units at UNICEF and UNHCR; and private sector initiatives such as the Deloitte Humanitarian Innovation Program. Given the current interest in innovation, it is important that we understand what we mean when we refer to humanitarian innovation, what the current trends are, as well as the challenges to achieving results in fostering innovation in humanitarian action.

In this learning session, Alexander Betts,

Director of the Refugee Studies Centre and Leopold Muller Associate Professor in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at the University of Oxford, provides us with an overview of what sets humanitarian innovation apart from other kinds of innovation.

Read more and access the assessments and related resources at https://phap.org/OLS-TCHA-2