Menno Simons College at the University of Winnipeg Course Description
Today disasters threaten global human security as never before. These crises are caused by a complex mix of natural hazards—such as floods, earthquakes or droughts—and human action. Humanitarian aid is an important response to disasters, and an increasing part of international development aid. This course identifies the main institutions and organizations providing humanitarian aid, and critically examines their efforts to improve aid quality and their own accountability. It also explores the ways in which humanitarian aid can help to reduce vulnerability to hazards and enhance, rather than undermine, capacities for development.
PREREQUISITES: Six credit hours successfully completed, or permission of instructor; IDS-1100(6) is recommended.
Canadian Mennonite University Course Description
Today, crises threaten global human security as never before. These crises are caused by a complex mix of natural hazards (such as floods, earthquakes, or droughts) and human action or inaction. This course will explore how humanitarian assistance and disaster recovery efforts can best promote resilience by reducing vulnerability and disaster risk. Community and organizational responses to humanitarian crises will be examined, emphasizing efforts to improve aid quality and accountability. Prerequisite or corequisite: 6 credit hours of introductory Social Science; IDS-1110 is recommended.
We will use the COVID-19 pandemic and recent extreme weather events as opportunities to explore humanitarian issues, analyzing our own situation in Canada, as well as studying other types of disaster and other countries.
- Teacher: Ruth Rempel