When it comes to opportunities to help the world’s most vulnerable populations, the field of humanitarian action is full of possibilities. Workers in the field can make a tangible difference in areas ranging from disaster relief and refugee assistance to long-term development projects.
During and in the aftermath of man-made crises and disasters, humanitarian workers step in to ensure that the basic needs of the people affected are met and their human dignity is maintained. Humanitarians also undertake work to prevent, prepare for, and mitigate the impact of disasters.
The field is marked by a dedication to four principles embraced by the United Nations. Humanity, which says that humanitarians are motivated by a desire to save lives and alleviate suffering while upholding people’s dignity; impartiality, which stipulates that action should be based solely on need, regardless of race, nationality, gender, religious belief, political opinion, or class; neutrality, which forbids the taking of sides in wars and other conflicts; and independence, which requires workers to be autonomous, and free from control or influence by non-humanitarian objectives.
Humanitarian careers cover a range of positions, with some professionals responding to man-made catastrophes and complex emergencies such as conflicts, environmental disasters, and economic instability, and others addressing natural disasters such as floods, famines, and droughts, all of which have been exacerbated by climate change.
These professionals can work for multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, non-governmental organizations such as the Jesuit Relief Services or Amnesty International, and international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross.
At Fordham, several degree programs prepare students for humanitarian careers. The Institute for International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) offers both undergraduate and graduate-level degrees, including a certificate specially tailored for mid-career professionals. The Department of International Political Economy and Development (IPED) offers degrees that explore global economic relations and international development from multiple perspectives. And the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) prepares students to promote social justice and improve the lives of marginalized populations at home and abroad.
The following are examples of some of the positions available to humanitarian professionals, matched with some Fordham graduates working in the field.
Humanitarian careers in business development include positions in program planning and conception, as well as fundraising for aid organizations.
Conducts rapid assessments to identify the most critical needs of populations in crisis, including food, water, shelter, health care, and security; coordinates between stakeholders; and advocates for the needs of affected populations.
Making an Impact: Many graduates of Fordham’s IPED and IIHA programs have held this position, including Hannah Fort, IPED ’20, at USAID.
Helps individuals, groups, and organizations identify and secure funding for projects, typically through grants distributed by foundations and government agencies.
Making an Impact: Brittany Hilyer, IIHA ’18, at the Center for International Environmental Law
Researches, prospects, cultivates and manages relationships with donors and raises funds for non-governmental organizations. Responsible for ensuring the organization has the funding necessary to carry out its mission.
Making an Impact: Paul Michael, IPED ’20, at Partners in Health
Conveys an organization’s message and mission through newsletters, email campaigns, interviews, and social media campaigns.
Making an Impact: Joseph Lowry, IIHA ’04, at the International Organization for Migration
Recruits and places prospective volunteers in both meaningful single-day opportunities and longer-term ones where volunteers share their professional or language skills. Works with community stakeholders to support the betterment spaces through recruitment, panels, fairs, campaigns, workgroups, and networking events.
Making an Impact: Michela Fahy, IIHA ’23, at Catholic Charities
People in these positions are responsible for implementing programs in countries affected by humanitarian crises.
An appointed government official who works to restore peace while also dealing with issues of trade, economics, human rights, and more.
Making an Impact: Martine van der Does, IIHA ’08, ’17, the IIHA’s Helen Hamlyn Humanitarian Fellow & Global Program Director. Previously, she served as a diplomat in Afghanistan and Jordan for the Netherlands Foreign Service.
Provides general aid to an afflicted community or area. A catch-all title used to describe disaster response workers working outside of their home countries, they are similar to humanitarian assistance officers. Duties can also include conducting surveys and research to identify critical needs in a community, such as access to healthcare, education, clean water, and food.
Making an Impact: Naomi Gikonyo, IIHA ’09 ’17, an emergency officer at the United Nations World Food Programme
Deploys to areas to conduct a rapid assessment of current or potential disease outbreaks. These professionals determine the cause of the disease, who is at risk, and how to stop or limit the spread of infection.
Making an Impact: Emily Faherty, IPED ’12, at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Provides assistance and support to victims, especially those who are at risk or most vulnerable. This can include emotional support and coping mechanisms for people experiencing trauma or distress, as well as advocating for policies that support the recovery process.
Making an Impact: Erica Vargas, GSS ’23, working with asylum seekers at Goddard Riverside Community Center
Delivers babies, helps pregnant women, and provides support after childbirth, often acting as a frontline provider in communities with limited access to healthcare facilities. May also educate and train others on best midwife practices.
Making an Impact: Synclaire Warren, current IIHA student, a certified doula, and human rights writer who is currently at the American Business Immigration Coalition.
Manages country-wide safety and security of humanitarian programs. Often tasked with assessing how to access vulnerable communities as well as risk management of emergency humanitarian employees.
Making an Impact: Samantha Slattery, IIHA ’20, working in Yemen as an access and security coordinator for Solidarites International.
Some aspects of humanitarian relief require knowledge in specialized areas.
Leads a team supporting technical advisors and country programs in designing and implementing climate resilience programming in humanitarian contexts, integrating climate and environment standards into programming, and conducting research and developing innovative solutions to increase climate resilience in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Making an Impact: Tara Clerkin, IPED ’13, at the International Rescue Committee
Responsible for the design, implementation, and technical quality of all monitoring and evaluation activities across an organization’s projects.
Making an Impact: Aya Kurdi, IIHA ’24, at the UN World Food Programme
Involved in programs, coordination of disaster response efforts, and pre-planning efforts in areas involving water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Making an Impact: Owen Fitzgerald, IPED ’18, at Catholic Relief Services
Provides technical support for gender equality and social inclusion via short-term contracts to government agencies, non-profit organizations, and other public/private institutions.
Making an Impact: Laura Groggel, IPED ’14, at USAID
Interested in learning more? Check out these guides:
Human Rights Careers: How to Become an International Aid Worker
United Nations: Humanitarian Agencies that Operate in the Field
]]>As you may know, last night tragedy struck our neighbors in The Bronx when 12 members of the community lost their lives in a fire, and many more were displaced by the blaze. At least four of the victims were children, making the loss even more heartbreaking. Frigid temperatures have exacerbated their plight.
Fordham Campus Ministry will designate this Sunday’s collection and supplement it for the Bronx fire victims, and will take up a collection at all of the Masses on the first weekend after the winter break to aid those who have been displaced.
One of our own, Michael Yu, FCRH ’16, a member of Bronx Community Board 6, has put out a call for gently used clothing. You may donate via the Dorothy Day Center: [email protected] or (718) 817-4510. I urge you to donate whatever you can to help our neighbors in their hour of need.
Here are some additional resources:
NY Red Cross set up a reception center for displaced families at Crotona International Academy – 2474 Crotona Ave (https://twitter.com/redcrossny/status/946605758103343105)
The Mayor’s Office, in partnership with the NYPD, FDNY, OEM, and Bronx Borough President’s Office announced a coat and clothing collection drive. Items will be collected at Church of St. Martin of Tours – 2239 Crotona Ave on Sat 12/30 and Sun 12/31 from 9am-4pm both days (https://twitter.com/NYPD48Pct/status/946846386540204032)
The office of Council Member Ritchie Torres is running a donation drive for canned food, diapers, body wash, deodorant, hand sanitizer, toiletries, baby wipes, and feminine hygiene products. Items will be collected at 573 E. Fordham Rd (entrance on Hoffman St.) on Sat 12/30 from 11am-2pm (https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/946846741806108672)
Finally, I ask you to keep the victims and their families and neighbors in your thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely,
Joseph M. McShane, S.J.
]]>Horrors of War: From Goya to Nachtwey showcases the classic work of 18th-century painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes aside modern-day photographer James Nachtwey. The work will be on display in in Canisius Hall through the end of the fall semester.
“In these photographs and in the face of isolation, there is presence and compassion,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “That is what the institute is about.”
Nachtwey said he was honored to place his photographs alongside the work of the painter Goya, who he called the “first war photographer.” Together, the works highlight both the darkness and the hope found in the tragedies of war.
Goya’s work is from his Los desastres de la guerra [The Disasters of War] series. The series consists of 82 prints created between 1810 and 1820 showcasing the conflict between Spain and France. Seventeen out of the 82 prints were reproduced from originals that are held in The Hispanic Society Museum and Library.
Nachtwey’s work captures scenes through the eyes of humanitarian crisis workers and their subjects. Among the images in Horrors of War are a mother clutching her child amidst a debris-strewn landscape; a young woman lying in a hospital bed; and a man, who’d lost a leg in conflict, attempting to mount a surfboard.
“These are not easy to look at and yet difficult to look away from,” said IIHA Executive Director Brendan Cahill.
“A lot of times humanitarian workers are unable to process what they see on a daily basis, so these images bring their reality to life for someone who may never find themselves in that circumstance,” said Angela Wells, IIHA communications officer.
The exhibition is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
-Veronika Kero
]]>Without a doubt, the single biggest obstacle is access. We are able to produce a lot of the resources that are needed by the beneficiaries—those refugees or displaced persons. Our problem is that we can’t get to them.
In many of the countries where we operate, we can’t deliver food and other things because of political obstacles. For example, to deliver aid in Syria today, agencies have to cooperate with whatever limits [President] Assad wants to impose—that includes which agency we can deliver aid through, and where the aid can go. Obviously he is not going send aid into the areas that are opposing him. Therefore it makes it very difficult to deliver aid neutrally, impartially, and independently. There are enclaves where no medicine has gone in for years, no anesthetics. You are putting people in medieval conditions. And it’s not just Syria. Almost everywhere we go, oppositions want to stop humanitarian agencies from delivering aid.
The other point is that money is tight. We are probably about a billion dollars short for the crises we have today in the world. In the 1990s most of the large agencies were a third of the size they are today and there were not many small independent NGOS. If a crisis got 20 or 30 agencies, that was a good turnout.
There were more than a 1,000 agencies that responded to the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis. Where did they all come from and the question we could ask—which is suitable to this ground—is how qualified are they to be there? No one wants to deny the good heart, but there are too many agencies vying for the same monies.
The migration problem is massive. In the humanitarian aid world, we work with internally displaced people and refugees forced from their countries [as opposed to economic migrants]. People are fleeing from violence. They are saying there are 65 million people displaced in the world, a huge number. And it doesn’t seem to be getting any lower.
The economic migrant is the larger portion of migrants–coming from countries in desperate straights because of climate disasters or violence. It is very difficult to measure their numbers, very difficult to control them, very difficult to send them back, and very difficult to house them in your country.
Sadly, the animosity and aggravation that people have toward migrants is going to grow. To be honest, migrant populations are one lever for Britain to have made the choice that it did last week [on Brexit].
If there was peace and there were jobs in their own countries, most migrants would stay. Some people say wouldn’t it be better spending our money on creating peace, rather than providing aid for the people who are displaced. Now, we are back into money and political will.
But we are not doing enough about prevention.
One of the strengths of the program is that we are up to date. We look at every crisis as it is today, not from 5 years ago. Every student that we have is going out to today’s crises, and what we did a decade ago no longer applies.The moment you get on the ground in any crisis, in the first few hours everything changes. The police should be there; they’re not. The government should be there; it’s not. Everything is changing constantly.
In order to make sure we are up to date, we change our lecturers each and every term. We bring them in strait out of the field. This session we had a young Kenyan woman who has been in the field for 5 or 6 years. We have two people who were just in Gaza. These lecturers can talk about the ethical or political questions, or even about communications problems, because they were literally just there.
Whether they can tell us that ‘it worked,’ or ‘it would work better with something else,’ they remind us that humanitarian aid is a moving philosophy—and you have to go with it.
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