20 YEARS NOHA (International Association of Universities)

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• published: 17 Nov 2013
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NOHA is an international network of universities that offers education in humanitarian action, aiming to enhance professionalism in the Humanitarian sector. Since its creation in 1993, more that 3000 graduates have completed the Joint Master's in International Humanitarian Action In October of 2013, NOHA celebrated its 20th anniversary in Brussels, bringing together humanitarian leaders and NOHA graduates in a two-day conference to extract lessons from the achievements and constraints of the last 20 years in order to address the main challenges that will encounter the sector in the coming years. What are the goals of NOHA for the future? SOPHIE BOREL, NOHA General Manager: «We have already ERASMUS MUNDUS students who are coming from third countries, from developing countries and have the oportunity to come to Europe. But what we want to do is to bring NOHA to them, to see how to make NOHA evolve in a way that is inclusive of the thinking and the reflexions that are coming from other countries in the world and not only Europe and to integrate that within the NOHA, that is going to be a NOHA global». PAT GIBBONS, NOHA President: "To stablish NOHA'S networks around the world : A NOHA Southeast Asia, a NOHA Africa, a Noha South America and so on. So that the NOHA philosophy of enhancing the professionalism in the delivery of humanitarian age through education can become a global project. Vilnius and Copenhagen universities have recently joined the network. Besides the Joint Master's, NOHA organises short-term courses, seminars and conferences. NOHA counts with the cooperation and support of the EU through the DG Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection (ECHO) KRISTALINA GEORGIEVA, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response: «Every year, we europeans support help for some 300, 400 million people in the world. We need to work together to understand needs better, to be able to target assistance better but most importantly, to help local organizations, local institutions built up capacity and develop educational programs like the one we offer here". NOHA provides education and training to form and equip humanitarian professionals with the specific set of skills needed in the sector. Kathrin Schick, Director VOICE: "You still find people with very different backgrounds, you find experts on health, on water, on sanitation, you find people with administrative backgrounds, maybe social anthropology. So, in that way, I think is still a sector which brings together very many different disciplines, but then, people need a good briefing, people need a good training and I think NOHA contribute to that". What makes a humanitarian proffesional? Paul Harvey, Partner, Humanitarian Outcomes and Director, Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium: "the sector as a whole should look harder at the skills they are currently asking for and perhaps the skills they shoul be asking more , as I say, greater knowledge of local languages, local context, more promotions into senior management of national staff, in the context in which they are operating, Which role do you think NOHA could play in terms of training humanitarian professionals? Michael Neuman, Director of Studies at Médecins Sans Frontières: "If you want to improve humanitarian practice, we have to reflex on this practice, we have to discuss them to put them in question and I think that through training and this is where NOHA has a huge role to play through training, you can make the know how more valuable, you can put the NOHA in discussions" How does NOHA link practise and theory? MARIE JOSE DOMISTICI-MET, Coordinating Director of the Event and President of the NOHA General Assembly: «we work closely with the humanitarian actors and we take them as lecturers. they are very numerous coming to us and also our formed students when they're graduated and evolve into the humanitarian work, come to us an teach». NOHA seeks to promote critical thinking, debating about the trends and challenges of the sector, and reflecting on the role that Universities could play for the education of humanitarian workers. Catherine Bragg, Adjunct Professor in Humanitarian Action at University College Dublin: «we need to be as broad as possible in the way that we both educate and develop the next generation of humanitarians. We all know that humanitarian action as an enterprise has not particularly been business savvy and I think that is something that they can also bring as part of the education of our next generation ». What is NOHA's added value to the humanitarian sector? JULIA GONZÁLEZ, Adjunct Professor in Humanitarian Action at University College Dublin: «what we really wanted to do which was a different world, more human, a fairer world and a world where the victims and the people who had suffered critical situations were at the center of the quality of service and the respect that they deserve».