About this Course

4,615 recent views

Disaster Risk Reduction and humanitarian aid in conflict settings
This MOOC teaches you to develop accountable, high-quality and ethical responses to disaster in conflict-affected areas. The E-course is meant primarily for practitioners, but also open to students or otherwise interested people. It stimulates participants to think about humanitarian aid, DRR and disaster response in contexts where conflict is ongoing, lingering, or has characterized the setting in recent times, as well as about the hard choices and dilemmas faced by humanitarian actors in conflict settings. Moreover, you will learn to distinguish the different challenges and effective, positive examples of aid in three types of conflict settings. Through videos, interviews, guest lectures and realistic case-studio, learning becomes both relevant and fun; everything you learn will be applicable for practice in the field.

Curious? Check out our trailer in the first module of the MOOC below.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

Learn more about Coursera Labs

Intermediate Level

Approx. 8 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

Learn more about Coursera Labs

Intermediate Level

Approx. 8 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructors

Instructor rating

4.94/5 (19 Ratings)

Dorothea Hilhorst

Professor of humanitarian studies

International Institute of Social Studies

4,454 Learners

1 Course

Roanne van Voorst

Anthropologist (Ph.D)

International Institute of Social Studies

4,454 Learners

1 Course

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Week1

Week 1

3 hours to complete

Disasters, conflict and aid

3 hours to complete

5 videos (Total 22 min), 11 readings, 1 quiz

5 videos

The Trailer of this MOOC1mIntroduction2mHow are conflicts and disasters related?8mWhy is it important to be conflict sensitive in DRR?6mIntroducing conflict scenarios3m

11 readings

About the next video10mWhat do we actually mean when we talk about conflict?10mWhat do we mean with a disaster?10mIs there also a link between a slow-onset disaster like climate changes, and conflict?10mShort summary of the interlinkages between conflict and disaster10mDisaster governance, disaster risk reduction and disaster response10mAbout the next video10mWhat you've learned so far10mRecap of what you've learned so far10mAbout the next video10mExtra resources10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz about week 1

Week2

Week 2

1 hour to complete

Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in high-conflict scenarios

The goal of this week is to make you familiar with High-conflict scenarios (HIC). You’ll learn to understand the common characteristics of disaster in a HIC-setting, and develop a sense of common problems and lessons for disaster response and disaster risk reduction. To start off with, in the first lesson we’ll introduce a case study of a high-conflict scenario where disaster strikes: South Sudan.

1 hour to complete

4 videos (Total 22 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

Week3

Week 3

1 hour to complete

DRR in Low-conflict scenarios

Welcome to Week 3. The goal of this week is to make you familiar with Low-intensity conflict scenarios, or LIC for short. You’ll learn to understand the common characteristics of disaster in a LIC-setting, and develop a sense of common problems and challenges for disaster response and disaster risk reduction. This week we’ll provide you with examples from several LIC settings, such as Myanmar, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.

1 hour to complete

5 videos (Total 26 min), 2 readings, 1 quiz

Week4

Week 4

1 hour to complete

Disaster Response in Post-conflict scenarios

Welcome to week 4. The goal of this week is to make you familiar with Post-conflict scenarios, or PC. You’ll learn to understand the common characteristics of disaster in a LIC-setting, and develop a sense of common problems and lessons for disaster response and disaster risk reduction. To start off with, in the first lesson we’ll introduce a case study of a post-conflict scenario where disaster strikes: SIERRA LEONE.

1 hour to complete

4 videos (Total 20 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

Week5

Week 5

1 hour to complete

Hard decision-making & ethical dilemmas

Week 5 of this MOOC is more practical. Here, we ask you as participant to reflect on several examples of realistic, common dilemmas that you may encounter in the field - or perhaps you have already have had similar experiences. The main aim of this exercise is to train you to become sensitive the possible consequences of future decisions. Moreover, you will learn how to balance and reflect upon the pros and cons of each decision. By practicing with hard decisions in operations, it also becomes more clear how principles and accountability standards can help you to do no harm, and hopefully, some good. At the end of this Module, you should feel better informed and prepared when encountering future ethical dilemmas in the field.

1 hour to complete

5 videos (Total 6 min)

Week6

Week 6

2 hours to complete

Conflict-sensitive policy

The goal of this week is to help you practice with developing and reflecting on conflict-sensitive disaster response programs. The past weeks, you have learned how complex it can be to off disaster response in a conflict setting. However good our intentions may be; we always run the risk of stirring conflict, worsening it – or even starting it. Therefore, this week, we’ll be sharing with you five tools that can help you become more conflict-sensitive in the way you work and think. We won’t focus on conflict risk reduction or peace building, but more on conflict sensitivity and ‘do no harm’ in emergency settings. We’ll also implement some of the knowledge through a realistic assignment.

2 hours to complete

5 videos (Total 20 min), 5 readings, 1 quiz

5 videos

Practitioners developing DRR policies1mConflict-sensitive policy3mWhat are effective tools and support programmes?10mEnd assignment2mCongratulations!1m

5 readings

Why and how to make your project conflict-sensitive10mConflict sensitive approach vs Conflict risk reduction (based on USAID definitions)10mConflict sensitive approach vs Conflict risk reduction (based on USAID definition)10mPossible implications of conflict-sensitive policies on conflict – an example on vulnerability, marginalization and gender10mExtra resources week 610m

Reviews

4.8

17 reviews

5 stars
80%
4 stars
16.36%
3 stars
3.63%

TOP REVIEWS FROM WHEN DISASTER MEETS CONFLICT

by ICJun 11, 2020

Excellent course! I learned a lot. It was a very engaging course. I would recommend this course to my colleagues.

by SSApr 25, 2020

Very good course I enjoyed and learned how to avoid doing harm while providing aid to affected communities.

by SSSep 26, 2021

Excellent course, i will recommend it anytime any day

by RROct 13, 2020

Extremely informative and perfectly curated course, id like to thank everyone involved in the production this course.

View all reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

When Disaster Meets Conflict

When Disaster Meets Conflict

About this Course