History for humanitarians: Developing and deploying historical methods for use by humanitarian agencies and policy makers

Impact: Awareness and understanding, Attitudes and behaviours, Policy

Narrative

Davey and Taithe’s body of research has produced one of the first historical analyses of the emergence and development of the humanitarian aid sector and historicised its practices. It has, for the first time, brought historical analyses into the strategies and training of two of the four largest Nobel Prize-holder global humanitarian organisations, Médecins Sans Frontières and Save the Children (more than 60,000 humanitarians worldwide), allowing critical humanitarian histories to inform humanitarian futures. Their historical expertise has been deployed in the humanitarian sector and contributes to research and policy agendas for INGOs, funders and standard-setting organisations, shaping the entire humanitarian sector. This has integrated historical thinking in accounting for ongoing work. It also impacts on record keeping and archiving practices. The research also contributes to reshaping the educational agenda of global humanitarian agencies.
Impact dateAug 2013 → 2020
Category of impactAwareness and understanding, Attitudes and behaviours, Policy

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute

Documents & Links

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