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Competency-Based Standardized Training for Humanitarian Providers: Making Humanitarian Assistance a Professional Discipline

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2013

Kirsten Johnson*
Affiliation:
Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal Canada
Leanne Idzerda
Affiliation:
School of Human Nutrition, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Rachel Baras
Affiliation:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Jessica Camburn
Affiliation:
Save the Children, UK
Karen Hein
Affiliation:
Department of Family & Community Medicine Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, Hanover NH
Peter Walker
Affiliation:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA
Frederick M. Burkle
Affiliation:
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Cambridge, MA.
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Kirsten Johnson, MD, MPH; Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, 515-517 Pine Ave W, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2W1S4 (e-mail kirsten.johnson@mcgill.ca).

Abstract

The number of people employed in international humanitarian care is growing at a yearly rate of 6%. The demand for better coordination, accountability, and training has led to a need for standardized humanitarian training programs for providers. Training should be based on comprehensive core competencies that providers must demonstrate in addition to their skill-specific competencies. This report explores the competencies specific to humanitarian training that are practice- and application-oriented, teachable, and measurable. Competency-based, standardized programs will be used to select humanitarian workers deployed in future crises and to guide the professionalization of this discipline.

Type
Original Research
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2013 

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