IGA-353M: Humanitarian Field Study Course: Strategic Planning in Humanitarian Engagement in India

Following previous successful field study missions to the West Bank, Nepal, Indonesia, Lebanon, and in Europe (UK, Italy, and Moldova), the Humanitarian Field Study Course will focus its attention in January 2013 on strategic planning and critical thinking methodologies in the context of the implementation of international humanitarian and human rights norms in South Asia. The course will have a particular emphasis on critically assessing and understanding the challenges faced by the Indian government as an emerging political and economic power with a significant role in determining regional and international norms and priorities in areas such as regional security, development, health, humanitarian action and human rights, while also being influenced by legal standards and humanitarian principles being established and promoted by the international community. For the purpose of enhancing critical thinking and strategic planning skills among students, the course will consider the tensions and synergies between various international, regional, and domestic agendas surrounding some of the most salient humanitarian and human rights challenges currently affecting India; these will focus on issues of access to education, health, food, clean water, and regional and foreign security policies. This case will be considered in terms of its demographic profile, assessing the impact on populations, as well as the role of civil society, the government, regional bodies, and international cooperation. The Field Study Course involves a three-week field mission: two weeks in Delhi, followed by one week in Geneva to engage various and humanitarian and human rights agencies at HQ level. Using an experiential learning approach, the field study mission will feature a series of visits and interviews with professionals engaged in diverse fields of work in these regions, as well as group analysis exercises. Students will be accompanied by the Lead Faculty, Professor Claude Bruderlein, and a Teaching Associate for the duration of the course. During the Field Study Course, students will have the opportunity to meet with practitioners representing diverse perspectives, from senior government officials, local non-governmental organizations, private corporations, advocacy groups, United Nations officials, international humanitarian workers, and health professionals, among others. High-level discussions will be complemented by lectures and practical workshops on professional communication, critical thinking, and strategic planning methodologies in order to maximize the experiences of this field study. Students will survey the various perspectives and strategies of relevant actors, as well as the underlying assumptions and biases that each of these approaches reveal. Through exposure to international law agendas and perspectives from both Delhi and Geneva, students will have the opportunity to examine and compare strategies for the development and implementation of humanitarian legal principles and human rights from an Indian/South Asian perspective on the one hand, and from the HQs of international agencies engaged in the design and promotion of international agendas on the other. Various strategies to enhance the implementation of international norms and community engagement will be explored. Ultimately, students will be asked to produce an analysis and a set of recommendations on a particular theme designed to guide the strategic engagement of a specific international agency engaged in humanitarian or human rights affairs of their choice in India. Finally, students will have the opportunity to develop their own professional thinking in this fiel