Crisis Response

  • September 24, 2019

    Exploring the next frontier in education in emergencies: Social-emotional learning research and practice

    Written by
    Paul Frisoli, Associate Director, Education in Emergencies, FHI 360
    Michael Renvillard, Initiatives Lead, LEGO Foundation
    Manos Antoninis, Director, Global Education Monitoring Report, UNESCO
    A teacher at a blackboard in Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria

    Maryam Mustapha teaches at a nonformal learning center in Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria. Her classes include social emotional learning, a critical component of programming for education in emergencies. Photo credit: Anna Eisenberg/FHI 360

    In emergency contexts, when many support structures fracture, education can provide protection, heal trauma and inspire hope. Education programs that feature social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions — the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions and develop self-control and interpersonal skills — have the potential for large-scale impact in fragile and humanitarian contexts. SEL is an especially powerful healer for migrants, refugees and children who can be scarred from prolonged insecurity, trauma, loss, violence or separation from family or homeland.

    As new crises seemingly arise every day and existing ones become more protracted, we at FHI 360, the LEGO Foundation and UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report are exploring evidence-based ways to incorporate SEL research and programming for education in emergencies.

    A new policy paper from the GEM Report, Education as Healing: Addressing the Trauma of Displacement through Social and Emotional Learning, draws on the global analysis in the 2019 GEM Report assessment on migration, displacement and education and rigorous new research done in partnership with FHI 360 to compile evidence-based findings on effective SEL approaches. The paper also presents recommendations for policymakers and other stakeholders to invest in SEL evidence-generation and programming at global, national and regional levels.

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  • July 10, 2019

    The darker side of development: Shifting the paradigm for refugee aid

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Today, most of the world’s refugees — and most internally displaced people — are uprooted from their homes for protracted periods. While estimates vary, the average length of displacement can be between 10 and 26 years. What does this mean for how we manage refugee assistance and what does promoting self-reliance look like under these conditions?

    In this episode, I sit down with Muzabel Welongo, Founder and Executive Director of Resilience Action International and a recent graduate of Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. A former refugee himself, Muzabel describes some of the systemic issues surrounding refugee aid, the negative consequences of well-intended aid efforts and the need to shift the paradigm from aid dependence to self-reliance.

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  • April 10, 2019

    Three ways to develop education curricula for youth in emergency settings

    Written by
    Paul Frisoli, Associate Director, Education in Emergencies, FHI 360
    Kristin Brady, Director, Youth, FHI 360

    Education is important for all young people, but it can be lifesaving to youth in emergency settings. Adolescence is a period of significant cognitive, emotional and social change for every young person. For youth in emergency contexts, education can help to protect them from recruitment into armed services, sexual exploitation, abuse and early marriage. It can also build inner resilience by offering stability, normalcy and hope.

    Given the increase in emergencies worldwide and the number of youth who are out of school, it is critical to ensure that educational curricula are holistic, relevant and meet learners’ social-emotional and developmental needs. We believe there are three elements that must be considered to successfully develop curricula for youth in emergency settings.

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  • January 10, 2019

    The critical role of logistics in crisis response

    An Interview with
    Yves Kavanagh, Associate Director of Operations and Logistics, West Africa and Middle East Regional Office, FHI 360

    Since 2009, nearly 24.5 million people living in northeast Nigeria have been directly or indirectly affected by the Boko Haram conflict. Northeast Nigeria has more than two million internally displaced persons, with 1.4 million residing in Borno State alone. FHI 360’s Integrated Humanitarian Assistance to Northeast Nigeria (IHANN) project delivers primary and reproductive health care; gender-based violence protection; nutrition; and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to meet the most immediate needs of this population.

    When IHANN teams began work in 2017, health and medical supplies were not always available. Yves Kavanagh, Associate Director of Operations and Logistics for FHI 360’S West Africa and Middle East Regional Office, discusses the critical importance of logistics to an effective crisis response program.

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  • December 17, 2018

    Eleven takeaways about humanitarian crises and emergency response

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    This year, I dedicated my monthly podcast, A Deeper Look, to examining humanitarian crises and emergency response. I had the opportunity to talk with senior leaders, youth and seasoned humanitarians who offered multiple perspectives on how this issue impacts communities and people in such areas as gender, technology, food security and education.

    Although the topics covered in our conversations varied widely, my guests were unified in their belief that the nature of humanitarian crises has changed over the years. We are seeing historic levels of people who are displaced by conflict for longer periods than in the past, and the number of natural disasters is increasing. We discussed how the changing characteristics of these crises are radically altering the way we do development. My guests and I also talked about some of the courageous, innovative responses that give us hope for the future.

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  • December 12, 2018

    Lessons learned throughout a career in humanitarian response

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    This year, we’ve taken a deeper look at Humanitarian Crises and Emergency Response. In the final episode of the season, I speak with Ambassador Rick Barton, who is currently co-director of the Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and the author of a new book called Peace Works: America’s Unifying Role in a Turbulent World.

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  • October 18, 2018

    Preventing and responding to infectious disease outbreaks

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Are we prepared for the next infectious disease outbreak?

    In this episode of A Deeper Look, I speak with Dr. Jonathan Quick, Senior Fellow Emeritus at Management Sciences for Health and author of the new book, The End of Epidemics: The Looming Threat to Humanity and How to Stop It.

    A leader in epidemic prevention and control, Jonathan talks about the diseases we should worry about the most and why, the success stories and lessons learned in responding to epidemic and pandemic outbreaks, and what we need to do to be prepared for the next outbreak.

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  • September 10, 2018

    Preventing and resolving violent conflict

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    A decade ago, around 80 percent of the international humanitarian budget went to victims of natural disasters. Now, that number has flipped, with about 80 percent of funding going to victims of violent conflict.

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  • August 8, 2018

    Responding to the largest humanitarian crisis in the world

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    Twenty-two million people in Yemen — roughly 4 out of 5 Yemenis — are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, making this the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. As the conflict enters its fourth year, with little sign of a peace agreement, this complex emergency demands attention and action from the international community.

    In this episode of A Deeper Look, I sit down with my colleague Greg Beck, the Director of Crisis Response and Integrated Development here at FHI 360. Greg has recently been working in Yemen.

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  • July 12, 2018

    Humanitarian response in Nigeria

    Written by
    Patrick Fine, Chief Executive Officer, FHI 360

    More than 1.7 million people are internally displaced, 14 million people in acute need of humanitarian assistance and 26 million people are affected by conflict in Nigeria.

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