Borderlands, Conflict & Illicit Economies: Challenges for humanitarian action – November 2020

‘Borderlands,Conflict & Illicit Economies: Challenges for Humanitarian Action’ is the first webinar of our 2020/21 Seminar series. The webinar includes a presentation and discussion led by members of the GCRF-funded research project ‘Drugs & (dis)order: building sustainable peacetime economies in the aftermath of war’. Drugs & (dis)order addresses the overarching question of how can war economies be transformed into peace economies? It focuses on the role of illicit drugs in nine conflict-affected borderland regions of Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar. The research team presents some of the key messages from the project’s flagship report ‘Voices from the Borderlands 2020’ and reflect upon their implications for humanitarian actors operating in drug- and conflict-affected contexts. Speakers: Professor Jonathan Goodhand, (SOAS), Chair, Patrick Meehan, (SOAS),  Frances Thomson, (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) and Dan Seng Lawn (Kachinland Research Centre) Chair: Louise Ball (SOAS)

Re-envisioning Global Humanitarian Response –  May 2020

‘Re-envisioning Global Humanitarian Response, is the last webinar in our 2019/2020 series. The speakers explore key and emerging humanitarian challenges -including the impact of Covid-19 – and considering what shifts in discourse and practice, approaches to innovation, accountability, and power relationships might be necessary to address situations of crisis, conflict, and disaster in the future. Panellists will reflect upon and challenge conventional thinking and the ways in which we understand humanitarianism, humanitarian priorities, actors, and principles. Panel: Dr. Sarah Njeri, Research Associate, African Leadership Centre, Kings College London, Professor Laura Hammond , Professor of Development Studies, SOAS, Samir Elhawary, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator and Head of Office, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA), Venezuela, Lars Peter Nissen, Director, ACAPS, Geneva and Visiting Professor at the University of Copenhagen and Marc DuBois, Senior Fellow, SOAS, Freelance Consultant and former Executive Director of MSF-UK Chair:Dr. Althea-Maria Rivas, Lecturer, Development Studies, SOAS