Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

March 2010

Women in War Zones: Sexual Violence in the Congo

February 2010 

"Humanitarian Response to Haiti" Global Chat

Wednesday, February 10th, 12:30 - 1:30pm

FXB G-11
Harvard School of Public Health

The HSPH Student Government held a talk with HHI Faculty Member Dr. Stephanie Rosborough. Dr. Rosborough is the Director of International Emergency Medicine Fellowship, Brigham and Women's Hospital and a Harvard Medical School Associate Faculty.

Global Chat is an interactive health forum wherein experts from around the world share experiences and expertise in an informal and informative setting.

Critical Issues of the Haiti Humanitarian Response

Wednesday, February 10, 4-6PM

Carr Center Conference Room
Rubenstein Building, 2nd Floor, Room 219
Harvard Kennedy School

Introductory Remarks by Gregg Greenough, MD, MPH Director of Research, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Chaired by Professor Jacqueline Bhabha, JD, Director, University Committee on Human Rights Studies

Panel presentations:

"Immediate Health and Public Health Needs of the Haitian Population--the View from a Field Hospital"

Stephanie Rosborough, MD, MPH
Associate Faculty, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

"The Vulnerable Population -- Findings of the FXB-HHI Child Protection Assessment"

Brett Nelson, MD, MPH
Affiliate Faculty, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Co-Director, Program on Children in Conflict and Crisis

"The Evolution of Crowd-sourced Data and Open Platforms for Response"

Patrick Meier, PhD (candidate)
Fellow, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Co-Director, Program on Crisis Mapping 

Crisis in the Congo: Different Perspectives

Wednesday, February 10, 2010, All day
St. Michaels College, Colchester, VT

A day long series of speakers and workshops addressed one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time.

Speakers included: Herbert Weiss, Pierre Mujomba, Jocelyn Kelly, John Prendergast, Tatiana Carayannis, Maurice Carney, and Stephen Louis.

Click here or on the image to the right for a pdf of the program.

Harvard for Haiti Benefit Concert

Friday, February 12, 2010, 7PM

Sanders Theatre
Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge

In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Haitian people face unthinkable hardship, devastation, and destruction. The Harvard for Haiti Benefit Concert brought members of Harvard's rich and talented arts community together to raise funds for the relief of our neighbors in Haiti. The concert featured over a dozen performances, including many of Harvard's vibrant dance companies and choral ensembles, including Kuumba, the Harvard Modern Dance Company, the Holden Choirs, and much more. The list of performers also included award winning instrumentalists such as internationally acclaimed violinist Ryu Goto '10, Charlie Albright '11, winner of the National Young Concert Artists Piano Competition, and jazz favorite Malcolm Campbell '10. All proceeds of the concert and related events went to Partners in Health, a Harvard affiliated organization which has worked in Haiti since 1987.

Watch a recording of the event by clicking here.

January 2010

The Haitian Crisis Symposium

Friday, January 29th, 4pm

Thompson Room, Barker Center
12 Quincy St.

This event was free and open to the public.

The Harvard The Committee on African Studies, Department of African and African American Studies, and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research held this event.

Panelists included:

• P. Gregg Greenough, MD, MPH, Research Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
• Jennifer Leaning, Director, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
• Patrcik Sylvain, African Languages Program, Harvard University
• Marie-Louise Jean-Baptiste, Cambridge Health Alliance

For more information, please visit: http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/events/haitian-crises-panel

December 2009

African Refugees Artist Club and Youth Development: Art workshops at the UN Compound, Kakyma Refugee Camp in Kenya

December 8th, 2009, 6:30-8:00PM

Barker Center, Room 114

HHI and Cultural Agents Initiative held this seminar on the power of teaching art in refugee camps in East Africa. Sudanese artist and professor, Atem Aleu, shared his experiences and stories about creating and implementing art workshops in Kenyan, Sudanese, and Ugandan refugee camps. He gave a first-hand account of the positive impacts and challenges of taking on this kind of work. This event was open to the public.

November 2009

"Women and Health: Comprehensive Focus for Global Health"

Monday, November 2, 2009 4 p.m.

Radcliffe Gymnasium, 10 Garden Street,
Radcliffe Yard, 617-495-8600

Maurine and Robert Rothschild Lecture featuring: Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard School of Public Health

In recent years, health has been increasingly recognized as a central element of global security, sustainable economic development, and effective governance that promotes human rights. From the AIDS crisis and the influenza pandemic to the search for health-care reform, the entire world is facing common challenges, which can only be addressed through a renewal of international cooperation based on evidence, exchange, and empathy.

This event was free and open to the public. For more information, visit: http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/calendar_2009frenk.aspx

The Ethics of Triage In Disasters

Watch the event live here

Friday, November 13, 3-5:30PM

Harvard School of Public Health,
Kresge G2

HHI held this panel that covered themes discussed in Dr. Sheri Fink's NY Times Magazine article "Strained By Katrina, a Hospital Faced Deadly Choices" including: disaster triage, mass casualties, issues around critical care, end of life care, resource allocation and ethics.

Panelists will include:
Paul Biddinger, MD, FACEP, Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts General Hospital
Sheri Fink, MD, PhD, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, ProPublica Staff Reporter
Lachlan Forrow, MD, Harvard Medical School
Daniel Wikler, PhD, Harvard School of Public Health

The panel was moderated by Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH, Former Co-Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

October 2009

Saving the World's Women with Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Monday, October 5, 2009, 12:00-1:30pm

Harvard School of Public Health
Kresge Bldg., Rm. G-1

The New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning authors discussed their new book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, documenting how empowering women and girls will combat the world's problems.

 
HSPH Global Chat with Sheri Fink

Wednesday, October 14th, 12:30 p.m. -1:30 p.m.

Harvard School of Public Health
Kresge G-2

"The Deadly Choices at Memorial: The Katrina hospital story"

Global Chat is an interactive health forum wherein experts from around the world share their experience and expertise in an informal and informative setting. Dr. Fink presented on her recent publication and recent research findings on medical decision making in a major hospital in New Orleans during the days after Hurricane Katrina.

A webcast of this Chat is available here.

 
How Can You Tell When a War is Over for Women: Some Feminist Clues

Thursday, October 15th, 2009, 11:40a.m.

Harvard Kennedy School, Fainsod Room, Littauer building 3rd floor

Already the Iraq War has slipped off the front pages. But how are Iraqi women and US women experiencing what too-simply is called "post-war" not only now in this war but in other wars? This talk explored the gendered politics of widowhood, of mental illness or the woundeds' recuperations, of memorializing heroism. Wars do not end quickly or easily for women or for men.

Cynthia Enloe is Research Professor at Clark University. Among her ten books are Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics; The Curious Feminist; Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link. Her forthcoming book is Nimo's War, Emma's War: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics.

The First International Conference on Crisis Mapping (ICCM)

Thursday, October 15 - Sunday, October18, 2009

John Carroll University
Cleveland, Ohio

Hosted by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) and John Carroll University (JCU), the conference brought together over 60 leading organizations comprising the most engaged crisis-mapping practitioners, scholars and platform developers from around the world to showcase and advance the cutting edge of the Crisis Mapping field. The conference involved a mix of TED-style presentations on crises mapping, participant organized sessions, and a Tech Fair for an opportunity to experience the technology that has helped to drive the field forward.

For additional information visit: http://www.CrisisMapping.net

Doctors for Africa: The Challenges of Establishing a Medical University in a Resource Poor Country like Tanzania

Tuesday, October 20, 4-6PM

Harvard University
Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS) south building
Room S010

The Committee on African Studies and the Harvard Initiative for Global Health hosted a talk by Professor Esther Mwaikambo, Founder of the Medical School and Former Vice Chancellor of Hubert Kariuki Memorial University in Dar es Salaam; Founder of the Medical Women Association of Tanzania; and Pediatrician, Specialist in Cerebral Manifestations of Malaria.

Preparing for Crisis: A Briefing on H1N1 Influenza

Wednesday October 21, 2:30-3:30pm

Town Hall, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Building

Dr. Paul Biddinger, Associate Director of the Center for Public Health Preparedness at the Harvard School of Public Health and Director of Operations in the Emergency Department of Massachusetts General Hospital, discussed efforts to prepare for H1N1 influenza, the current status of the response to the epidemic, and the implications for future of emergency preparedness.

After the brief talk, Dr. Biddinger answered questions related to the H1N1 issue and also welcomed discussion of crisis management and health policy careers.

Carr Center 10th Anniversary Event. "Why Human Rights Matter: Human Rights as Public Service"

Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 6-8PM
Harvard Kennedy School
John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum
Littauer Center, Floor 1

The panel includes:

• Greg Carr, Founding Benefactor David T. Ellwood, Dean, Harvard Kennedy School
• Samantha Power, Founding Executive Director (1998-2002)
• Michael Ignatieff, Director (2000-2005)
• Sarah Sewall, Director (2005-2009)
• Rory Stewart, Director (2009-Present)

Spotlighted the work of the four Center Directors, their views over the last 10 years of the Carr Center at HKS, as well as discussed Why Human Rights Matter Now More Than Ever.

For more information, visit: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/cchrp/events/2009/month10/Anniv_21.php

Peter Singer and Richard Stearns in Conversation: The Imperative to Act Against Poverty

Thursday, October 22nd, 4:00 - 5:30 PM

First Parish Church
3 Church Street (corner of Mass Ave and Church St)
Cambridge, MA

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations and Harvard Book Store hosted a conversation between two influential voices making the case (from two very different perspectives) that taking concrete action to fight global poverty is respectively a moral imperative and a Christian obligation. This event brought Peter Singer and Richard Stearns together for a conversation moderated by Aviva Argote, Executive Director of The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations that explored their two perspectives, contrasted the motives of why various groups of people might take action against poverty, and took questions from the audience to further deepen the exchange.

For more information:
http://hausercenter.org/iha/archives/138
http://www.harvard.com/events/press_release.php?id=2388

September 2009

Preparing for Disaster: A Comprehensive Risk Management Framework

Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 4:30 - 6 pm

124 Mt. Auburn, 2nd Floor Ash Conference Room

Professor Leonard and Dr. Howitt of the Harvard Kennedy School's Program on Crisis Leadership introduced students to a comprehensive risk management framework for analyzing and improving disaster mitigation, response, and recovery. This served as the first in a series of workshops on the different phases and functions of emergency management.

Drinks and cookies were provided.

Sponsored by: Crisis Management Student Group: Leaders involved in crisis mitigation, response, and recovery; and Program on Crisis Leadership, Ash Institute/ Taubman Center.

Real World Brown Bag Lunch With Patrick Meier

Tuesday, September 28, 2009 12PM-1PM

Harvard Kennedy School
Ash Institute Conference Rm, 2nd Floor
124. Mt. Auburn

Patrick Meier discussed using cutting edge technologies (SMS, Google Earth, Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, UAVs) in conflict early warning, crisis management, and humanitarian response. Patrick talk ed about his involvement in HHI's Crisis Mapping and Early Warning Program and how he got involved in crisis management.

Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice

Wednesday, September 9 - Friday, September 11, 2009

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University convened a Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice September 9-11, 2009 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The conference was chaired by Hauser Center Faculty Director and Kennedy School Criminal Justice Professor Christopher Stone, and was sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Conference Steering Committee also includes the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, and the International Center for Transitional Justice.

The Conference culminated a year-long effort to better align the plans and strategies of several organs of the International Criminal Court, and other national and transnational justice mechanisms. Discussions resulted in concrete action plans for improved collaboration between Court officials, civil society actors, academics and international justice experts over the coming three years.

April 2009

Learning from the Rwandan Genocide, Remembering Alison Des Forges: Perspectives on Her Life and Work

Thursday, April 30, 2009, 4:00-6:00PM

The Harvard University community held this event honoring the life of human rights advocate Alison Des Forges, former senior advisor for the African Continent for Human Rights Watch and an expert in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Des Forges was the author of a definitive work on the subject, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1964 and received a master's degree in 1966 and a doctorate in 1972, both in history, from Yale.
desforgesPanelists for this event included:

• Catharine Newbury (Professor of Government, Smith College)
• Tim Longman (Associate Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies, Vassar College) (invited)
• Lindsey Hilsum (International Editor, Channel 4 News, UK)
• Barbara Mulvaney (Former Prosecutor, UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda)

Panelists discussed Des Forges's contribution to the historical understanding of Rwanda, her efforts to document and explain the Rwandan Genocide, her legacy as a human rights advocate, and her role as an expert participant in international criminal justice. The event also included brief remarks from Jacqueline Bhabha (Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and Director of the Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies), Jens Meierhenrich (Assistant Professor of Government and of Social Studies at Harvard University), Jennifer Leaning (Professor of the Practice of Global Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Co-Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative), Susannah Sirkin (Deputy Director for International Policy and Advocacy at Physicians for Human Rights), and Mindy Jane Roseman (Lecturer on Law and Harvard Law School and Academic Director of the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School).

This event was co-sponsored by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University's Committee on African Studies, Harvard University's Department of Government, Harvard University's Department of History and the University Committee on Human Rights Studies.

Breast Cancer in Developing Countries: An Unforeseen Public Health Priority

Tuesday, April 14, 4:15-5:45PM
Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Building 3 (Kresge) G1

Dean Julio Frenk hosted the first in a series of Participatory Panels on Public Health Priorities. Dr. Jennifer Leaning spoke.

Participants:

• Julio Frenk, Dean of the Faculty and T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development, HSPH
• Felicia Marie Knaul, Senior Economist, Mexican Health Foundation, and Director, Breast Cancer: Tómatelo a Pecho
• Jennifer Leaning, Co-Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Professor of the Practice of Global Health, HSPH, and Associate Professor of Medicine, HMS
• Lawrence Shulman, Chief Medical Officer and Sr. Vice-President for Medical Affairs, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Associate Professor of Medicine, HMS
• Walter Willett, Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, HSPH

Working with local partners on evidence based programming in humanitarian response: Experiences from the field with Oxfam America

Tuesday April 14, 2009, 4:30 - 6:00 pm

Location: Harvard Kennedy School, L380
Refreshments will be served.

HKS hosted a discussion with Miriam Aschkenasy MD, MPH, Oxfam America's Public Health Specialist in the Humanitarian Response Department. She shared her experiences in working with local partners in El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe to develop community based and public health programming in humanitarian response. She also talked about her thoughts on working with an American NGO in the humanitarian field.

Disaster preparedness will save lives: How CARE disaster preparation helped save lives during Hurricane Felix in Central America

Wednesday April 15, 2009, 2:45 - 3:45 pm

Harvard Kennedy School, L382
Refreshments will be served

Tthe Disaster Management Speaker Series presented by the HKS Crisis Management PIC, together with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the Taubman Center's Acting in Time Disaster Recovery Project hosted Marcos Neto - the CARE Central America Program Director from 2006-2008 who now leads CARE's effort to establish partnership to advance CARE's work on climate change -- for a discussion about how CARE's disaster preparation has been shown to save lives.

In 2005 a small tropical storm called Stan hit Central America and caused havoc. CARE realized that it had not yet adjusted its preparedness to the lessons learned after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. CARE decided to focus on preparedness to help communities handle the annual hurricane season and save lives. By 2007 season, when two category 5 hurricanes made land fall, including Felix, CARE had revamped its preparation and was able to help saving lives in Nicaragua.

HSPH Center for Public Health Preparedness Speaker Series: A Conversation with Dr. Jennifer Leaning

Monday, April 20, 12:30-1:30PM

Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Kresge Building, Room G2

This lecture series, now in its fourth year running, aims to provide insight into current preparedness issues for an audience comprised of HSPH students, faculty, staff, and public health practice partners. Jennifer Leaning, M.D., SMH, spoke.

Equality in Difference: housing for the Fishermen of Tyre, Lebanon

Wednesday, April 22, 6:00PM

Barker Center, Room 133
12 Quincy Street

The Culural Agents Initiative and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative presented a lecture by Professor Hashim Sarkis, Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism in Muslim Societies. An introduction was given by Jennifer Leaning, Co-Director of HHI, and the discussion was lead by Doris Sommer, Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative.

Sponsored by The Humanities Center at Harvard.

Health and Human Rights in Gaza

Thursday, April 23, 12:30-2PM

Harvard School of Public Health

677 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA
Kresge G2 (Kresge)

Global Chat on Palestinian Health. The event was limited to students and facutly of HSPH. For more information about the event, contact: Carmel Salhi This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   

March 2009

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

 International Women's Day, Sunday, March 8, 2009

2:30 PM Q&A/Film Screening

The YWCA
140 Clarendon Street
Kuumba Library, 2nd Floor
Copley Square

Winner of the Special Jury Prize Documentary, 2008 Sundance Film Festival

Jane Ngondo, an activist from the Congo provided testimony and report. This event also included a PowerPoint presentation about the role of multinational corporations in the Congo and ideas for local community action.

Break the Silence - End the Violence
For More Info: Contact Boston WILPF

Sponsors: The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Boston & NY Metro and Friends of the Congo
Co-Sponsor: The Center for New Words

Art as a Tool for Social Engagement: Children Surviving Land Mines in Colombia

Monday, March 9, 2009 at 6PM

Barker Center, Room 133, 12 Quincy St.

The Cultural Agents Initiative and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative presented a lecture by Alvaro Jimenez, Director of the Colombian Campaign Against Land Mines. An introduction was given by Jennifer Leaning, Co-Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and a discussion was lead by Doris Summer, Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative.

Healing Humanity: Perspectives on Global Public Health Symposium

Monday, March 9, 2009, 4:30 to 6:30PM

Dana Auditorium
Middlebury College

Dr. Sheri Fink, MD, PhD discussed humanitarian aid in conflict and disaster settings. Dr. Fink is a fellow with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

For information about other past events, please contact Vincenzo Bolletino.