It’s a polarised, inequitable world we live in. The global economy is growing, absolute wealth is on the rise, technology has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past two decades, life expectancy across the world continues to increase and abundance leads us to discard approximately one third of the food that is produced for human consumption worldwide.
Simultaneously, we have the highest absolute number of people lacking access to potable water, food, shelter and basic health services in history.
Today, about 750 million (one out of every nine) people around the world do not have access to safe water and the number of children under the age of five who lack access to basic healthcare services stands at approximately 200 million, causing just under 10 million annual deaths from treatable diseases.
The incidence of humanitarian crises is on the rise internationally and there is plenty of evidence pointing towards an increase in the intensity and scope of large-scale disasters over time.
The collective effects of climate change, declining biodiversity, uninterrupted urbanisation and the looming certainty of resource scarcity, together with the resource competition and violent conflict habitually catalysed by such scarcity, are but some of the difficulties that lie ahead.
Ideological and religious differences within and across cultures – thought by some to have been forever cast into the annals of history – are rearing their ugly heads while a lack of political order – even State failure – in some countries is causing large-scale displacement, famine and war.
Many suffer in silence. While some humanitarian crises, such as the recent natural disaster in Nepal or the civil war raging since 2011 in Syria, receive comprehensive media coverage, hundreds of equally appalling crises – those in South Sudan, Eritrea, Liberia, Mali, Cameroon, Burma, Mexico, Chechnya, Columbia, Nicaragua, Mozambique, Chad, the Philippines and the Central African Republic are but some examples among many – do not, leaving the vast majority of us unaware of the staggering levels of human suffering around the world.
When we do hear of large-scale catastrophes, many feel the need, duty or desire to offer some sort of assistance to those affected and individuals and organisations from all sorts of backgrounds mobilise en masse to offer a helping hand.
But while altruism, benevolence and a good dose of empathy are noble traits, desirable and fundamental in any professional humanitarian worker, operating efficiently and effectively in the kind of conditions typical of humanitarian crises, whether environmental or anthropogenic, requires considerable levels of training, knowledge and experience.
The humanitarian sector is in dire need of professionalisation
Following every objectively evaluated large-scale crisis over the past two decades, voices emerged within the humanitarian community speaking of a lack of skilled, qualified personnel on the ground whose ineptitude sometimes serves to defeat the purpose of humanitarian aid by leaving affected populations worse off than they would have been had no assistance been conferred to begin with.
Following the Rwandan genocide that occurred in 1994, the Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda spoke of the “unprofessional and irresponsible manner” in which a number of humanitarians operated, “that resulted not only in duplicated and wasted resources but may also have contributed to an unnecessary loss of life.”
Such arguments, levelled against the humanitarian complex back in 1994 and again following the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami of 2004, still hold water today. The humanitarian sector is in dire need of professionalisation.
The University of Malta, like other universities across Europe and further afield, is pulling its weight to this end. For the fourth consecutive year and for the second time as a member of Noha (a leading international association of universities that aims to enhance professionalism in the humanitarian sector), its Department of International Relations is offering an MA in humanitarian action, which can be followed on a part-time or full-time basis.
The MA presents a multidisciplinary perspective, offering insight from anthropological, health, legal, ethical, media, management and forced migration angles. It is geared towards combining practice with analysis and has so far invited more than 50 guest lecturers and speakers from Malta and overseas.
The MA programme in humanitarian action is intended for individuals working in, or aspiring to work in, humanitarian agencies, multilateral aid institutions, NGOs and private foundations, government agencies, large corporations with in-house development/outreach work and think tanks and research centres focusing on humanitarian and development cooperation.
The programme is unique to the Mediterranean region. It is offered entirely in English and harnesses expertise from the academic, NGO and government sectors. The programme has a strong regional focus and enables students to specialise in regionally-relevant issues, such as displacement/migration and disaster preparedness while also offering participants the possibility to undertake internships locally and overseas.
Those interested can obtain more information from www.um.edu.mt/arts/int-relations/courses/ma-humanitarianaction or send an e-mail to humanitarianaction-ir.arts@um.edu.mt or joseph.m.debono@um.edu.mt.
Joe Debono is research support officer at the University’s Department of International Relations.