A Message from Stephen Commins, New Academic Director of the MS in Humanitarian Action Program
As I begin my role as Academic Director of the MS in Humanitarian Action program, I start with an appreciation for the strong program foundation that has been established, especially by Topher, as well as the work of Daria, Bianca, the PCE team, several cohorts of MSHA students (now alumni) and all the MSHA faculty. Amidst the changing humanitarian space, there are notable challenges but also enormous opportunities both across the globe and in the US to undertake more than a ‘reset’ of humanitarianism.
Despite the organizational changes in the US and elsewhere, there remain (as seen every day on Devex, LinkedIn or the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, among other sites) many opportunities across a spectrum of systems and organizations and models, and the MSHA program is geared to working with students and to ensuring that they are connected with our faculty of practitioners whose experiences ground or program.
The response to a global collapse in humanitarian funding and escalating crises, the ‘humanitarian reset’ has garnered widespread attention, seeking to direct the system reform agenda. It has also attracted extensive critiques, particularly owing to major decisions being made behind closed doors, with voices from the so-called Global North dominant.
The MSHA program is designed to include and value the perspectives of crisis-affected communities, whether those affected by disasters, displacement or conflict. The program seeks to ensure that these voices have been thoughtfully amplified and it has been made clear that the ‘humanitarian reset’ must not fail local actors, but place people and local actors at the heart of humanitarian response.
Please reach out to me with your ideas, questions, concerns and hopes, so that the MSHA program can continue to be based on human rights, humanitarian principles and the quest for peace and justice, and that we function together through learning, collaboration and community engagement.
You can reach me at scommins@sandiego.edu or connect with me on LinkedIn.
- Stephen Commins, Academic Director, MS in Humanitarian Action
About the Author
Stephen Commins is the Academic Director of the Master of Science in Humanitarian Action program at the Kroc School of Peace Studies. He also serves as a Lecturer in Regional and International Development at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. With more than four decades of experience at the World Bank, the UK government, UN agencies, and international NGOs, his work has focused on human, social, and environmental development, particularly in disaster and fragile, conflict-affected settings.
