Médecins Sans Frontierès

Building a competent cadre of humanitarian workers who have the requisite skills to respond to crises in Africa

Applications are now open for the Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance Africa 2013!  
The programme comprises two Certificates in Humanitarian Policy and Practice, with an option to take the examination for the Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance.

Certificates in Humanitarian Policy & Practice:
6th May – 14th June 2013
DHA Exam: 17th June 2013

What are the certificates? The certificates are intensive training programmes run by Wits University’s Graduate School of Public & Development Management, in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontierès/Doctors without Borders (MSF)   and   the   Liverpool   School   of Tropical Medicine. The multi‐disciplinary programmes take a regional focus on tackling humanitarian issues across Africa  and  are  designed  and  taught  by  experts  from leading organisations and Academic Institutions such as ICRC, UNHCR, Oxfam, MSF, UNAIDS, and professors from LSTM and Wits University.

The Certificate in Humanitarian Policy and the Certificate in Humanitarian Practice can be studied as stand‐alone programmes or consecutively, with the possibility to convert the two into a Diploma in

Participants

Humanitarian Assistance from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM). The school of Public & Development Management (P&DM) at Wits will award a Certificate in Humanitarian Policy to students who successfully complete Weeks 1‐3 and a Certificate in Humanitarian Practice for successful completion of Weeks 4‐6. Students completing the 6‐week course will be eligible to sit the examination for the Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from LSTM. Alternatively, participants can choose to attend just the first or second 3 weeks for either of the certificate programmes.

Who are the programmes designed for?
The programme is designed for practitioners and policy‐makers such as NGO Workers, Government staff, Staff of Multilaterals such as the UN, the Media, Civil society, Donors and persons wishing to enter the humanitarian field.
 

What are the entry requirements?  
A University degree or equivalent professional qualification/experience is required; with particular emphasis on recruitment of applicants from across Africa. There is space for approximately 10‐15 people from any one organization, particularly targeting senior staff from across the African region. There will be a maximum of about 50 students on the programme.

When and where are the programmes offered?
•    Certificate in Humanitarian Policy: 6th – 24th May 2013
•    Certificate in Humanitarian Practice: 27th  May ‐ 14th  June 2013
 (incl. final Saturday assessments)
•    DHA Exam: 17th June (Monday)

Location:  Johannesburg:  University of Witwatersrand, School of Public & Development Management. All teaching is in English. Applications for the DHA require proof of English language proficiency with an ‘English as a Foreign Language’ certificate of competence.

Practical training day in Ekurhuleni, Water testing, purification, pumping, storage andlatrine digging

How much does it cost?

The costs are as follows:
•    Certificate in Humanitarian Policy ONLY: R15,000 (ZAR)
•    Certificate in Humanitarian Practice ONLY: R16, 500 (ZAR)
•    Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance: GBP 500
(An early bird discount of 10% will be applicable on payments made before the 28 of February 2013)

How do I apply or find out more?
Please email or call: Thandiwe Mlangeni (Thandiwe.Mlangeni@wits.ac.za; Tel: +27 (0)11 717 3505) at Wits P&DM; or Fezile Kanju (Fezile.kanju@joburg.msf.org ; Tel: +27 (0)11 403 4440) at MSF South Africa
For further information and application forms, click here.

I.  Certificate in Humanitarian Policy

Module 1:
The    Humanitarian      Arena      This      module interrogates    the      environment      in      which humanitarian crises occur. This includes political social and economic contexts, the complications of natural disasters and global climate change. Participants look at international humanitarian law and human rights, and how these translate to humanitarian ethics and codes of conduct in humanitarian aid arena. The role of media in humanitarian crises is looked at as well.

Participants

Module 2:
Process towards stability and sustainable development; This module looks at the complexities of the Humanitarian environment. This includes the diminishing humanitarian space and the blurring of military‐ humanitarian lines, the politics and humanitarian implications of global climate change. Putting this in context is case studies of war to peace situations focusing on the process of rehabilitation, demobilization and moving from disaster to development.

Module 3:
Policy Advocacy and the Media; This module develops students’ abilities to be able to analyse specific inputs that shape our responses to humanitarian crises. Given the contexts provided by the previous two modules this enables students to conduct political analysis of complex emergencies and practically apply humanitarian law. The media is analysed as one vehicle for advocacy on humanitarian interventions. Good and bad cases of media reporting are used as a vehicle for sensitizing students on appropriate ways to interact through advocacy.

II. Certificate in Humanitarian Practice

Module 1:   Strategic   Planning and Management of Displaced Populations
This module looks at project management, minimum standards, coordination, teams, people    motivation,    and    the issues that confront people that are working in the field.

Module 2: Specialist Elective: Participants choose one of the following modules running in parallel:

2 (a) Health in Emergencies
This module introduces participants to evidence based practice approaches to dealing with Health in emergencies. In a complex humanitarian environment an array of health
issues need to be dealt with applying both a development and disaster lens.

Participants

2 (b) Technical Support In view of the continuum from disaster to development technical responses need to not just respond to immediate needs, be cognisant of the post‐disaster context which requires sustainable responses. In order to do this module develops students’ knowledge on a range of technical interventions for post‐disaster and developmental contexts. Students’ knowledge of these is developed through a range of learning in class and practically about the following areas.

2 (c) Possible new options depending on demand: Disaster Management

2 (d) Possible new option depending on demand: Applied Policy (personal project)

III. Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance

Participants who successfully complete the two certificates are eligible to sit the DHA exam offered by LSTM in South Africa.