GENEVA CENTRE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION

Launch of new COVID19 humanitarian platform

STATEMENT

COVID-19 Humanitarian
A new platform bringing new and best practice to humanitarian actors

April 20, 2020, Geneva.

Today, three world-leading academic institutions with expertise in humanitarian health are launching a unique initiative: the COVID-19 Humanitarian- an open-access, online platform for use by humanitarian actors in preparedness and response to COVID-19.  The Geneva Centre for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action, a joint centre of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the University of Geneva, the Center for Humanitarian Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre at the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, are collaborating together to bring this resource alive.

The many COVID-19 guidance and tools that are being currently disseminated require adaptation to humanitarian settings as many recommendations are not feasible in challenging environments (e.g. refugee camps). Humanitarians in the field are creating new programmes, and adapting existing ones, to continue life-saving assistance while trying to reduce COVID-19 transmission. This platform promotes and values the collection and sharing of field-based COVID-19 programme adaptations and innovations, facilitating learning among organizations in different sectors and contexts.

The platform will offer:

1)      An operationally oriented structure to support humanitarian actors in finding guidance and tools for humanitarian programme settings.

2)      The ability to share experiences about adapting programmes to specific contexts to bring field-level innovations, successes, and challenges to the forefront.

3)      A standardized and simple way to document lessons learned for future and ongoing adaptive programming and to contribute to the development of new guidance and tools for humanitarian agencies.

‘This platform will be a catalyst in bringing together field experience with academic knowledge, to offer timely guidance to humanitarian organisations and their programme staff, to ensure they have access to the latest tools and advice on COVID19. Combating COVID19 within already challenged humanitarian operations will be the hardest hurdle of all for us to overcome. But with global solidarity and shared learning this will be possible’ explained Prof. Karl Blanchet, Director of the Geneva Centre for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action.

Please visit COVID-19 Humanitarian to contribute to and see our evolving network of participating organizations and context-specific resources. Guidance and submissions from humanitarian actors will be updated regularly.

For more details or to organize media interviews with Prof. Blanchet email: [email protected].   

Project website details: www.covid19humanitarian.com.

Download PDF of statement

COVID-19 Humanitarian

SOURCE: CERAHGENEVE