As long as there are violent conflicts and natural disasters, there will be humanitarian crises that require a rapid and effective response, and once these crises are stabilized, long term solutions need to be found that restore livelihoods and rebuild social, economic and political structures. The Humanitarian Affairs Program at SIPA offers courses that focus on three aspects of this process: on the root causes that create such outbursts of human suffering, on the arsenal of relief mechanisms at our disposal, and on the intricacies of post-conflict and post-disaster reconstruction and recovery. A growing number of national, regional and international organizations, governmental and non-governmental, are deeply involved in seeking solutions to these crises, while trying to alleviate their symptoms. The Humanitarian Affairs program is based on the premise that the students of today will soon be on the frontlines of these organizations, facing unique challenges. The program is designed to give these students a thorough understanding of the issues involved, both in conceptual and in practical terms. At the same time, the program places humanitarian issues within a broader context of political and social concerns, including conflict prevention and post-conflict recovery. The management aspects of humanitarian crises are covered from two perspectives: how to manage relief operations, and how to manage the organizations that provide humanitarian assistance.
The Humanitarian Affairs Program is not a concentration – not because it lacks scope, but because it supports and draws directly on the substantive areas already covered by the functional concentrations offered at SIPA, as well as programs of study at the Mailman School of Public Health. The root causes of violent conflict invariably have to be sought in the violation of human rights, the mismanagement of economies, political exclusion, or poorly resolved security issues; natural disasters often have their roots in - or are exacerbated by - environmental mismanagement. These are all themes taught in depth at SIPA. Operational response issues find corresponding substantive coverage in the offerings of the Mailman School of Public Health, and at SIPA in the UN Studies Program, the Media and Communication concentration, and in various management courses. When it comes to recovery and reconstruction, finally, it is often a question of “reverse engineering” the root causes that led to the crisis in the first place, so tools will be found in the Human Rights, Economic and Political Development, and International Securities Policy concentrations.
In all this, the Humanitarian Affairs Program functions as a kind of switchboard and magnifier, offering students in different concentrations an array of courses as well as internship opportunities that will help them understand the connections between their area of focus and other disciplines as they examine the real world at its worst. The Humanitarian Affairs Program also organizes and facilitates numerous events each year, offering students an opportunity to discuss current humanitarian issues with notable theorists and practitioners in an informal setting, and is the only North American academic program affiliated with the European University Network on Humanitarian Assistance (NOHA). In addition, a student-led working group, the Humanitarian Affairs Working Group (HAWG) serves as a forum for students to increase awareness of humanitarian affairs in the Columbia community and to contribute to the development of the program.
