HHI's research and programs unite interdisciplinary experts from across Harvard University in order to apply a scientific framework to humanitarian practice worldwide and provide advanced scholarship on the intractable challenges faced by crisis-affected populations, and the relief agencies that serve them.
Current Programs
- The Burden of War
By advancing scholarship on the social, economic, and psychological impact of war on civilian populations, HHI develops informed understandings on when and how to act on behalf of people trapped by conflict.
- Crisis Mapping & Early Warning
HHI is currently engaged in a multi-disciplinary research project sponsored by Humanity United that seeks to advance crisis mapping and early warning efforts worldwide to prevent mass atrocities.
- Gender-based Violence in Conflict
HHI aims to present an analysis of current patterns of mass rape in internal wars, identifying key factors of opportunity, vulnerability, and impunity that support the ongoing practice of mass rape. HHI's research also offers an assessment of current approaches taken by relief agencies, highlighting avenues for further efforts that can reduce the future incidence of these atrocities and relieve the suffering of current survivors, their families, and their communities.
- Program for Humanitarian Effectiveness
How can we respond better? Disaster and conflict management experts at Harvard believe they have the answer: quantify the problems and evaluate the quality and impact of aid. HHI serves as a resource for technical, research, and training assistance to more than 80 humanitarian agencies and international institutions. Events like the Humanitarian Action Summit provide a space for dialogue on emerging issues in humanitarian response and inter-agency coordination.
Recent Publications
For more recent reports and articles related to HHI affiliates' research, please visit our Publications page.
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Nowhere to Turn: Failure to Protect, Support and Assure Justice for Darfuri Women
Nowhere to Turn is a report documenting the scope and long-term impact of rape and other sexual violence experienced by women who fled attacks on their villages in Darfur and are now refugees in neighboring Chad. The report is based on a scientific study, conducted in partnership with Physicians for Human Rights, of women's accounts of rape and other crimes against humanity that they have experienced in Darfur, as well as rape and deprivations of basic needs in refugee camps in Chad. |
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This report uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore sexual violence in the Democratic Replublic of Congo. Results from this report show the sexual violence perpetrated by armed actors in the DRC has features that indicate rape is being used as a weapon of war. The violence in DRC embodies a new kind of war emerging in the 21st century - one that occurs in villages more than battlefields and affects more civilians than armed combatants.
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Applied Technology to Crisis Mapping and Early Warning in Humanitarian Settings The purpose of this Working Paper Series on Crisis Mapping is to briefly analyze the current use, and changing role, of information communication technology (ICT) in conflict early warning, crisis mapping and humanitarian response. The authors demonstrate that ICTs have the potential to play an increasingly significant role in three critical ways by: facilitating the communication of information in conflict zones, improving the collection of salient quantitative and qualitative conflict data, and enhancing the visualization and analysis of patterns. |
