The course aim is to give students a comprehensive understanding of the key issues in humanitarian action, and how they affect developing countries. The focus will be on both complex emergencies arising out of conflict, natural disasters, and resulting human rights and gender issues.

It will cover topics such as international, local and community humanitarian responses, and the key characteristics of each. The UN, International NGOs, local NGOs, bilateral and government agencies will be examined as key players. There will also be a special focus on the key role of the military .The course will consider several case studies with different social and cultural contexts from the Pacific, East Asia, and South Asia, and Africa. Contemporary case studies will be used as much as possible.

Students who satisfy the requirements of this course will have the knowledge and skills:

• to demonstrate a critical appreciation of the key concepts and approaches used by development scholars and practitioners who work in humanitarian interventions;
• to engage in humanitarian work as development practitioners and understand the likely social and economic impacts of humanitarian policies and practices
• to reflect critically on their own experiences of humanitarian interventions in the light of the concepts and methods introduced in this course.

There will be three elements in the Assessment for this course:

Assessment 1: Four On-Line Forums: (20%) - this will be based on student contribution to the On-Line Forums

Assessment 2: Critical Review: Minor Essay 3000 words (20%).  A critical review of literature taken from one of the topics from weeks 1-5 of the course

Assessment 3: Major Essay, 5000 words, (50%), a discussion paper on an aspect of humanitarian interventions.

Assessment 4: Tutorial Participation (10%)

For a 12 credit point course, the total notional workload over the 15-week semester (including time spent in class for on-campus students (2 hours per week) , or listening to recorded lectures for online students); analysing the readings, participating in on-line forums, and writing assignments  is about 180 hours (approx. 12 hours per week). However, a student's personal workload will depend on individual factors such as prior knowledge, existing skills, and learning style.

There are no prerequisites for this course

Students are expected to have a basic general knowledge of humanitarian response

Good Broadband access.