There is growing demand for humanitarian logistics professionals given increasing climate change, conflict, social vulnerability, and supply chain complexity. Principles and models in this course are adapted to apply to different planning phases: disaster preparedness, emergency response, and protracted crisis.
Course overview
You will learn about the nature of humanitarian contexts and the structure of emergency response systems in order to professionally communicate plans and coordinate operations. Course topics are also foundational for understanding how international and economic development efforts support market resilience in meeting community needs during crisis.
This course is designed to accommodate students from various backgrounds, including those with limited supply chain or humanitarian experience. It can be an avenue into:
- Social impact: Humanitarian action makes direct impact through tangible operations
- Professional engagement: Course knowledge enables you to professionally interact with humanitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, and World Vision; United Nations agencies such as World Food Program (WFP), World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF; and national, regional, or local government emergency management agencies (e.g. FEMA), ministries or departments of public health and human services, and Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
- New careers: The course credential can open career opportunities in humanitarian roles such as operations/program analyst, supply chain manager, emergency manager, emergency planner, emergency program director, procurement assistant/officer, logistics assistant/officer, program assistant/officer
Experienced and mid-career supply chain professionals will enjoy learning how crisis contexts challenge your instincts in applying your skills toward humanitarian causes. Humanitarian response and emergency management professionals will gain a deeper understanding of how logistics systems work and learn how to collaborate with supply chain professionals in planning a more effective response.
