About the course

The course aims to critically analyse the humanitarian architecture through a multi-level governance approach, with a focus on global, national and local actors. From here, participants will reflect on decision-making processes for humanitarian WASH (including aspects of needs assessments and information management) and analyse quality assurance and accountability mechanisms to safeguard WASH outcomes (with a case example on programmatic integration of gender considerations). Throughout the course, key inter-personal leadership skills will be explained to prepare participants to engage with the complexity of the humanitarian architecture.

This course forms part of the Graduate Professional Diploma Programme (GPDP) in Humanitarian WASH offered by IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education. Successful completion of this module grants 5 ECTS (European Credits).


What will you learn

The Humanitarian Architecture

    • What constitutes a humanitarian situation and different types.
    • Identify the major actors in humanitarian sector (e.g., UN Agencies, INGOs, RCRC, relevant government agencies).
    • International humanitarian principles and legal frameworks.

    Governance Landscape in Humanitarian Situations

    • Defining (multi-level) governance as an approach to navigate decision-making.
    • Coordination mechanisms in humanitarian contexts.
    • Humanitarian frameworks for decision-making.
    • Intersection of governance in different humanitarian contexts. Inter-personal leadership for influence.

    Analysis of Decision-making for Humanitarian WASH

    • Challenges of information management for decision-making in and across sectors in humanitarian contexts.
    • Enhancing communication and effective cooperation.
    • Opportunities and challenges of decision-making processes within Humanitarian WASH.
    • Limitations of decision-making processes in Humanitarian WASH.

    Safeguarding Humanitarian WASH Outcomes

    • Introducing the Humanitarian Imperative - Sphere project
    • Adapting and improving monitoring, quality and accountability mechanisms in humanitarian WASH.
    • Consensus building and negotiation for humanitarian WASH
    • Ensuring participation, inclusion and transparency in humanitarian WASH
    • Safeguarding a gender perspective in humanitarian WASH

Schedule

This course is scheduled for 18 weeks.

Estimated learning effort

6-8 hours per week. You are required to pass all graded assignments to complete the course and receive credits.

Authors

Created by:

This educational material was developed for, and made available under, the Cooperation Framework between IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the Global WASH Cluster, including the vital support of the following organizations: Center for Disease Control, International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, OXFAM, Save the Children, and Solidarités International.