Program Overview

Introduction to Humanitarian Work and Aid

The unit DVST101, Humanitarian Work and Aid, is designed to provide students with a foundational introduction to the principles, concepts, and procedures characterizing humanitarian work and aid. This unit aims to acquaint students with the evolution of humanitarian action and the complex issues facing contemporary aid workers and humanitarian relief organizations.

Unit Details

• Year: 2022
• Credit points: 10
• Campus offering: No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.
• Prerequisites: Nil
• Teaching organisation: 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

Humanitarian aid workers are required to provide life-saving relief like food, water, shelter, and medical treatment to populations in distress with the aim to alleviate suffering and restore human dignity. This unit will examine the historical evolution of humanitarian aid, humanitarian principles, and organizations, as well as the relationship between humanitarian and development work.

Learning Outcomes

To successfully complete this unit, students should be able to:

1. Describe the international humanitarian sector and the work carried out by humanitarian relief organizations.
2. Explain the international principles undergirding and governing humanitarian action.
3. Discuss the issues faced by humanitarian actors and organizations negotiating complex emergencies.
4. Examine humanitarian efforts from an ethical and human dignity perspective.
5. Construct an academic argument that examines the challenges of humanitarian work and aid in the developing world.

Graduate Attributes

The unit is designed to develop the following graduate attributes:

• GA1: Demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity.
• GA2: Recognize their responsibility to the common good, the environment, and society.
• GA4: Think critically and reflectively.
• GA5: Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills, and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession.
• GA6: Solve problems in a variety of settings, taking local and international perspectives into account.
• GA8: Locate, organize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information.
• GA9: Demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media.

Content

Topics will include:

• Humanitarian versus development work
• The humanitarian-development nexus
• Aid, disaster relief, and poverty alleviation
• The historical evolution of humanitarian practice
• International frameworks governing humanitarian practice
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• World Humanitarian Summit and the localization agenda
• Actors in the humanitarian context
• Gender in humanitarian assistance
• Complex emergencies like conflict and natural disasters
• Humanitarian crises and climate change
• Food security
• Children and families in crisis situations
• Safety and the role of the military in humanitarian work
• Indigenous and First Nation responses to humanitarian need & external aid

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

This unit engages students in active learning activities, such as reading, writing, discussion, and problem-solving, to promote analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Lectures will introduce theoretical concepts and illustrate practice, while readings and online resources will be made available on the online learning platform or in recommended texts.

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

The assessments in this unit encourage students to develop their understanding of the international aid architecture and key actors, engage with scholarship on international humanitarian action, and critically examine policy and develop skills around communicating ideas and theories about humanitarian work and aid.

Overview of Assessments

• Case Study - Presentation: Identify key actors in humanitarian work and how they act in humanitarian crises (25%).
• Research Challenge: Engage with scholarship surrounding international humanitarian action and ethical and human dignity perspectives (25%).
• Research Essay: Examine policy and develop skills around communicating ideas and developing an academic argument about the challenges of undertaking humanitarian work in the developing world (50%).

Representative Texts and References

A list of recommended texts and references is provided, including works by Ahmad, Aleinikoff, Doyle, Everett, Hanatani, Mac Ginty, Maxwell, Roeder, Rucksthuhl, and Zwitter.