| CODE | IRL5059 | ||||||
| TITLE | Contemporary Issues in Humanitarian Action | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | International Relations | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study unit will consist of a series of guest lectures by local and international speakers. The lecturers will speak about their action in the field, their role, and the challenges they face. They will also cover contemporary debates and disagreements in the fields of humanitarian and development assistance. Topics covered will depend on current affairs and developments, and so will vary from one year to the next. The study unit is supposed to take the shape of an interactive forum where students can measure and compare how the legal, normative, ethical, and practical standards and understandings of humanitarian and development action developed in other study units compare to actual practices by local and international actors. Study-unit Aims This study unit aims to: - give students a good overview of current state-of-the-art in humanitarian and development assistance as it is currently implemented on the ground - give students a good understanding of current debates and disagreements in the fields of humanitarian and development assistance as it is discussed by both practitioners and analysts - give students the opportunity to contrast the reality of actual practices by local and international actors to existing legal, normative, ethical, and practical standards. - get the students acquainted with a number of local and international actors, which should also enable them to network and prospect for future professional opportunities. Learning Outcomes 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - describe the current state of play in the debate humanitarian and development action. - describe the breadth of existing practices in in humanitarian and development action - assess how current practices in humanitarian and development action compare to normative standards in the field. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - engage in a debate on current practices in humanitarian and development action. - engage directly and competently with practitioners in the field of humanitarian and development action. - measure the difference between theory and current practice in humanitarian and development action. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings This unit is less oriented towards analytical readings and more towards gaining insights from practitioners, their experiences and lessons they have learnt. The guest lecturers are supposed to assign readings for their individual lectures. These readings will be current at the time of the presentation. For that reason, it is not possible to provide a list of main texts one year before the starting date of the study unit. However, a description of the kinds of materials/readings to be assigned would include: - government white papers on humanitarian and development assistance; - policy documents developed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Save the Children, and another humanitarian/development organizations; - opinion articles by leading actors or critics; - recent major assessments and evaluations of humanitarian and development assistance; etc. Illustrative example: Cairns, Edmund (2012). "Crises in a New World Order: Challenging the humanitarian project" Oxfam: Oxfam Briefing Papers 7 February |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Co-Requisite Study-units As prescribed within MA in Humanitarian Action |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Seminar | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Maria Pisani |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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