Addressing critical humanitarian & development issues

RECENT PUBLICATION

Toward a Values-Based Foreign Policy:

Developing an Ethical Checklist

by Ambassador Peter Mulrean (ret.) and

William J. Hawk

JUST SECURITY - January 4, 2023

CARE ~ ENGAGE

EMPOWER ~ ACT

What We Do

OUR MISSION:

To better understand critical humanitarian issues around the world, and to innovate and support practical actions to address them.

OUR UNIQUE APPROACH :

To Explore critical issues; Identify "experienced humanitarian "champions"; invite into a network of peers; facilitate cross-fertilization and exploration of issues; support affiliates initiatives; encourage innovative efforts; work together to provide services, consultancies, studies, and evaluations; support training, mentoring and courses led by affiliates.

What is the result of bringing together a network of persons with a lifetime of experience?

The emergence of a multidisciplinary caldron of thought, action and mutual support, building on a wide range of specializations,including:organization development and resource mobilization; program development and M&E; child protection and education; trauma & resilience; advocacy and support for persons with special capacities and needs; health and nutrition, emergency preparedness and recovery; forestry and national agriculture policy, as examples.

HDPI is a voluntary network of persons working for the common good and rights of all. Affiliates bring many years of experience - with UNICEF and other UN agencies, government, World Bank, foundations, academia, media and NGOs. HDPI has no political or sectarian affiliation and operates as a registered not-for-profit organization. It remains by design - modest in size, purposefully dynamic, collaborative, and innovative.

HDPI SERVICES

HDPI FORUM

A weekly dialogue with global thought leaders on critical humanitarian issues.

Examples:

- Human Rights at Crossroads – Iain Levine

- Peacebuilding – John Paul Lederach

- Prog/resources development –James Brasher

- Revisioning Education – Robert Jenkins

- Inhumanity – Nora Niland/Antonio Donini

- Ethiopia crisis – Angela Raven-Roberts

- Take Nothing for Granted – Peter Mulrean

- Youth Empowerment – Rob Barnet

- Children in Institutions –J. Rodgers/P. McDermott

- Violence reduction Honduras –Mark Connolly

- Complexity theory – Eve Mitleton-Kelly

- Humanitarianism in age of Atrocities - Mukesh Kapila

- Fundamentals – Everett Ressler

- Misinformation/fake news – Philip Howard

- Rt Hon Lord Mark Malloch-Brown KCMG

Recordings

Migration

Michele KLEIN SOLOMON

Regional Director for Central and North America and the Caribbean, IOM

HDPI ONLINE

Specialized courses offered by HDPI affiliates based on years of experience in real world issues and interventions.

Course offerings:

Programme and Resource mobilization for CEO's and Board Members - Jim Brasher
Living and Working with Persons Living with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities - Nils Kastberg
Addressing the Impact and Trauma of Migration - AITM - Elaine Zook Barge and Saulo Padilla
New Forms of International Cooperation - Nils Kastberg
Results-based M&E for Nutrition - K. Belbase

EXPLORE THE COURSES

Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Addressing the Impact and Trauma of Migration

New Forms of International Cooperation

Request More Information

Nils Kastberg, Instructor

Current HDPI Initiatives

Understanding persons with mental syndromes and conditions (N.Kastberg & Working Group)
Addressing the Impact of Trauma in Migration - AITM (7 person working group)
Improving decision-making using ethical reasoning – 8KQ (6 person working groups)
Support of child care reform (supporting a global effort)

Current Consultancies

UKRAINE EMERGENCY - Supporting Lumos Foundation efforts to mobilize global actions on child care reform
Collaboration with Special Olympics to provide training in refugee situations for persons living with and working with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
UNICEF NIGERIA - Supporting national efforts to reintegrate women and children previously taken in the Boko Haram conflict
UNICEF Soloman Islands - Evaluating the national preschool education program.

Examples of Past Consultancies

- UNICEF Eritrea - National water policy

- Child Fund – Child accountability

- UNICEF Sri Lanka – Restorative justice

- UNICEF East Asia/Butan – report writing

- UNHCR Guinea Bissau – Statelessness

- UNICEF Mozambique – Child protection

- UNICEF USA – Psychosocial/COVID

- UNICEF MENARO - Preparedness

Publications by Persons Affiliated with HDPI

Capacity building for children’s rights in transitional justice processes in Sri Lanka

September 24, 2020

HDPi consultants are providing intensive capacity-building for local civil organizations in children’s rights and inclusion framework in truth-seeking and reconciliation processes following the decades-long armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

Supporting social change and conflict reduction through trauma healing and community problem-solving

September 24, 2020

HDPI supports Wozo Haiti a locally developed, national organization which aims to generate positive social change and conflict reduction through trauma healing and community empowerment.

Engaging faith leaders to promote human rights

September 24, 2020

HDPI consultants provided training for faith leaders on basic tenents of international humanitarian law, human rights and child rights, youth leadership, conflict prevention, and reconciliation in conflict-affected communities in Eastern DRC and Burundi.

Facilitating inter-agency workshop on emergency preparedness and child rights

September 24, 2020

HDPI facilitated an inter-agency workshop in Kigali to improve emergency preparedness and response to cross-border movements of children in the Great Lakes Region

Advising the Government of Eritrea on their OneWASH strategic plan

September 24, 2020

Provided strategic guidance and facilitation for the Government of Eritrea and their partners during the process to develop their process to develop a national strategy for water, sanitation, and hygiene for 2030.

Strategic guidance for accountability to children affected by crises

September 24, 2020

HDPI provides ongoing strategic guidance and technical expertise to support the Childfund Alliance in developing child-friendly accountability programs to monitor progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.2 (ending violence against children).

Leading international study on early-warning and early-response

September 24, 2020

HDPI undertook a multi-country study to identify ways to strengthen UNDP’s early warning and early-response to crises across the globe.

Study on statelessness and risks of statelessness in Guinea Bissau

September 24, 2020

HDPI consultants carried out ground-breaking research on stateless people and persons at risk of statelessness in Guinea Bissau. The study also assessed the impact of statelessness on fundamental rights, as well as the legal and administrative framework for preventing and reducing statelessness.

Planning and facilitation for the World Humanitarian Summit

September 24, 2020

HDPI members supported big picture thinking on adapting the humanitarian system as part of planning inputs to the World Humanitarian Summits, and served as facilitators and rapporteurs of various consultations and meetings.

Evaluating post-earthquake programming

September 24, 2020

HDPI organized and conducted an evaluation of a post-earthquake trauma-healing and resilience program in Haiti.

Strategic consultations with ‘Pathfinders’ of Child Protection

September 24, 2020

HDPI convened a three-day consultation with pioneers in child protection in humanitarian crises from around the world. The consultation documented the evolution of child protection knowledge and best practice over the past few decades and chartered a vision for how the field can continue to evolve.

Emergency assessments for refugee and displaced children

September 24, 2020

HDPI members helped facilitate an inter-agency mission to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey to assess the situation of at-risk refugee and displaced children. Also consulted on emergency preparedness and response actions to the large-scale influx of unaccompanied children into the US.

Strategic guidance on national humanitarian response policy

September 24, 2020

HDPI developed guidance for the UAE Committee for Coordination of Humanitarian Foreign Aid on how to coordinate and organize humanitarian response programs.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Linked to the COVID-19 Crisis in the United States

April 26, 2022

FINAL AAIUH MHPSS EVAL

OpEds by Persons Affiliated with HDPI

Misinformation on the Internet – Working Group on Ethical Decision Making

April 27, 2022

HDPI Working Group on Ethical Decision Making Misinformation on the Internet – an Ethical Tool to Find the Way Forward To Regulate of Not to Regulate? The extraordinary power of the internet to spread information instantly, with little oversight or regulation, has meant that hate speech, intentional misinformation, fake news, and the purposeful spreading…

The Ethics of Sanctions

April 26, 2022

The Ethics of Sanctions (Summary of the latest thoughts by HDPI’s Ethical Decision-Making Group) If, as Carl von Clausewitz said, war is the continuation of politics by other means, then perhaps the adoption of sanctions is the prevention of war by economic means. In the last sixty years, economic and political sanctions have been imposed—unilaterally…

Pathfinders in Child Protection: Everett Ressler

June 4, 2020

In November of 2019, HDPI convened some of the globe’s experts in child protection in humanitarian emergencies to discuss the origins, evolution, and future of the field. The convening was called the Pathfinders Dialogue and was made possible by the Oak Foundation. This is an excerpt from an interview with Everett Ressler, who had a long…

COVID-19: The need for global solidarity and cooperation: Dr. William Hawk

April 1, 2020

By Dr William Hawk, Fred Spielberg and Everett Ressler This op-ed was first posted in Global Geneva. As COVID-19 has shown, the first reaction of governments in a pandemic is to close borders. Indeed, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) prescription of “isolate, test, treat and trace” proves much easier if the influx of imported cases…

The future of humanitarian evaluation

April 1, 2020

HDPI staff and affiliates have a joint call every other Thursday to discuss ongoing initiatives and to share knowledge from our diverse fields and experiences. The HDPI call on Thursday, 6th February focused on evaluation. Krishna Belbase, who joined HDPI recently made a brief presentation and led the discussion on the topic “Evaluation: Emerging Trends…

Rebuilding Schools – Rebuilding Communities In Nepal

February 1, 2017

What happens after the bodies are counted, after the wounds are bandaged, after the world attention leaves to focus on the next global disaster? April 2015 Nepal, a small and peaceful country on the south side of the Himalayas, suffered a major earthquake that left close to 9,000 dead, hundreds of thousands with destroyed homes,…

Listening to the voices of local communities in humanitarian response

January 23, 2016

In this video with BBC Media Action, HDPI Member Nigel Fisher speaks about the importance of listening to populations affected by humanitarian crises: “Actually, people who are affected by disasters, people living in communities and local organizations, they’re usually the first responders anyway. And quite often, what they think needs to be done may or…

Who We Are

A global network of experienced practitioners

Jean-Claude legrand, specialist in child protection in emergencies

Nils Kastberg, specializes in advocacy for persons living with Intellectual and developmental disabilities

David Evangelista, Special Olympics

Regional President & Managing Director, Europe Eurasia

Affiliates

Pilar Aguilar, PhD.

Specializes in education in emergencies

Richard Anson, Ph.D.

Specializes in agriculture and rural development

Orla Bakdal

Specializes in Human Rights, Good Governance, Climate Change, and Diplomacy

Becca Balis

Specializes in child rights and protection

Martin Barber

Specializes in maintaining peace and security and protecting civilians in conflict

Elaine Zook Barge

Specializes in trauma and resilience

Krishna Belbase

Specializes in results based monitoring and evaluation. Also, food and nutrition, security, and social protection.

Carol Bellamy

Ms Bellamy was
previously a member of the New York State Senate, President of
the New York City Council, Director of the United States Peace
Corps, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEE). and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Globa
Partnership for Education.

Mathilde Bienvenu

Specializes in Child protection, child rights and early childhood development

Neil Boothby

Specializes in child rights and protection, especially in refugee contexts

Jim Brasher

Specializes in strategic development and global philanthropy

Mark Connolly

In the past decade, he has focussed on applying public health principles to reduce homicide and violence among young people, reducing risks, and increasing protection for children in migrations. For the past four years, he has amassed extensive experience in emergency preparedness and humanitarian response.

addressing trauma and resilience needs in the migration/resettlement experience.
supporting a global shift of family care rather than institutions
changing mindsets to improve the rights and well-being of people living with mental syndromes and conditions, particularly in refugee setting
enhance child protection and transitional processes in conflict situation,
introducing an ethics-based framework for decision making

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Operational Staff

Everett Ressler, Executive Director
Jooyeon Kim, Director of Finance
Kevin Yoder, CPA

Board of Directors

Vernon Jantzi
Rick Augsburger
Nils Kastberg
Carolyn Williams
Everett Ressler

Addressing critical humanitarian & development issues

RECENT PUBLICATION

Toward a Values-Based Foreign Policy:

Developing an Ethical Checklist

OUR MISSION:

To better understand critical humanitarian issues around the world, and to innovate and support practical actions to address them.

Affiliates

Contact us

Join our email list

Operational Staff

Board of Directors

E-mail

US Office

Phone