Mod 2 Task 2 ELRHA

[Chris Piper Keymaster]

[Accredited Stakeholders Participant]

I kept thinking as I read through the Table in Chapter 7…this would be great for pastors!

[Chris Piper Keymaster]

I appreciated your comment, Kelly! Interestingly, we run this exercise with Charles Sturtr Universitry (CSU) Emeregency Managers on the online course (EMG 309 Humanitarian Relief) I teach there These are folk with varying degrees of experience, and many of the competencies resonate well with them. They sometimes score their competencies on range from 1-3. Many realise that for overseas work, they may be a little light on cross-cultural experience. Interesting also that a number of them also confess a relative weakness in one of the Using Resources compencies, namely Financial Management (not my main strength either). On page 9 of the customised Agency Directory (see top of page 2 of Topic 2 Notes), there is a link to the agency Humentum – http://www.humentum.org . This is an amalgalm of three earlier agencies, one of which was Mango, which focussed in on financial management for NGOs. Humentum has similar programs, so check these out if intereested. .

[Accredited Stakeholders Participant]

Hi everyone,
I found this study very interesting and the content is something I have experienced personally as I have tried to navigate qualifications in humanitarian and development work for myself but not considered in the broader professionalisation of the global humanitarian workforce.
In a sector that is so multidisciplinary with limited academic structure (particularly for low to mid-level qualifications), the competency framework provides a good resource to ensure cohesiveness and understanding of the required skills and knowledge to keep human resources and organisations on the same path. In any business, it is challenging to monitor and manage the quality of human performance and offer upskilling so this framework has a lot to offer.

This study was performed in 2010, can I ask if there has been any notable action on the recommendations? Has there been much progress achieved from it?
Also as there was a section on accreditation I was wondering about this course. Is this courses accredited and if so who in Australia is the accrediting body?

Thanks! Tia

[Chris Piper Keymaster]

Hi Tia,
,
To quickly answer a couple of your points here:
1. No, there doesn’t seem to have been much progres in the move to professionaling the humanitarian sector since this time. The reasons for this are complex (and I haven’t been following it that closely), but they include:
– One of the key recommendations from the study (#9) was the formation of an International Humanitarian Professional Association (IHPA), but this not evolved
– Since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), many NGOs (and research agencies such as ELRHA) have had their budgets cut back, and thus find it difficult to fund detailed sudies such as these. Budget declines include less direct bilateral (eg through DFAT) funding
– This being said, there have been some positive develops. For example in Australia there is now a link betrween Save trhe Children and Deakin University’s Centre for Humanitarian Leadership.
– I personally think there is also a challenge over terminology. Competency based training is usually pre-degree (eg Cert IV) level, and graduates are really wanting to focus on Msaster rather than Cert IV training.

This PDRM is given Advanced Standing by Murdoch University towards three Masters programs, where the PDRM plus assignments equates to 1 Standard Unit (ie 3 points) towards these Masters programs. There is a similar degree of acceptance by Charles Sturt University (CSU).

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