KEDGE and ACTED have joined forces to launch the first humanitarian education chair in France. The three-year chair combines KEDGE's research and teaching expertise in strategic and logistical analysis with the experience of ACTED, one of the world's largest humanitarian NGOs, in the field of humanitarian crises.
The Chair aims to respond to the need for training for future actors in the sector following the increasing complexity and professionalism of the humanitarian sector. It aims to develop the knowledge and skills at the heart of the humanitarian management profession and to provide a scientific framework for reflection on the evolution of the challenges facing humanitarian action today.
THE CONTEXT
The international humanitarian sector is faced with ever-increasing needs, particularly in relation to demographic pressure, armed conflicts, health crises, natural disasters and droughts which are becoming increasingly destructive due to climate change.
The conflicting demands of sustainable development objectives and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are making the field of international humanitarian action more complex.
Should humanitarian action change its paradigm? How can we respond to these contradictory injunctions? How do humanitarian organisations and ACTED integrate environmental issues into the programmes they implement in the field?
Faced with these challenges, ACTED wishes to ensure that future humanitarians have the necessary skills to act effectively and has joined forces with KEDGE to meet these challenges.
THE CHAIR'S AXES
The Chair integrates 2 main axes
- Axis 1 : Training and Education
The Chair offers M1 students in KEDGE's Grande Ecole programme the opportunity to validate an ACTED/KEDGE humanitarian certificate. This involves taking five complementary courses on leadership, supply chain, finance and compliance, taught by KEDGE professors and a course on the new humanitarian situation taught by ACTED. The certificate will be validated following the completion of a humanitarian action project and the writing of a thesis. Internships will be offered to students who have followed the Chair's courses.
- Axis 2 Media and Valorisation
In order to raise awareness among the general public and the scientific community, the Chair plans to co-construct a major annual ACTED/KEDGE event, involving students.
LAUNCH OF THE CHAIR
A first conference of the Thinking out loud cycle, in the framework of the Grande Ecole Programme, is given by Marie-Pierre Caley and Frédéric Roussel on : "ACTED: humanitarian/humanitarian: meaning and leadership".
This Chair is launched at KEDGE on September 20th by Marie-Pierre Caley, General Director of ACTED and Frédéric Roussel, Director of Development, as well as Alexandre De Navailles, General Director of KEDGBS and Anicia Jaegler, Chairholder, Dean of Sustainability and Inclusiveness, Professor of Sustainable Supply Chain.
Marie-Pierre Caley is the General Director of the French NGO ACTED, which she co-founded 30 years ago. She has worked on the development of ACTED's activities in Afghanistan, then in Central Asia and, since 2004, in response to the main humanitarian crises in the world, both in emergency responses and in the accompaniment and strengthening of development dynamics. Today she supervises one of the largest French NGOs, present in 40 countries and reaching 18 million beneficiaries with more than 7,000 staff. Marie-Pierre Caley has also contributed to the launch of numerous tools and initiatives that contribute to the definition of an innovative, holistic and inclusive humanitarian and sustainable development agenda: the OXUS microfinance network, the Convergences platform and the Impact Initiatives.
Frédéric Roussel is Director of Development, Partnerships and Foresight of the French NGO ACTED, which he co-founded 30 years ago in Afghanistan, in a context of forgotten crisis. Between 1993 and 2007, as Director of Operations, he contributed to the development of ACTED's activities in Afghanistan, then in Central Asia. From 1997, he oversaw the expansion of ACTED's activities at the global level. Since 2005, ACTED has responded to all humanitarian crises and is now active in some thirty countries, both in emergency and development activities. In 2007, Frederic ROUSSEL became ACTED's Development Director with the objective of structuring around ACTED initiatives that would aim to relay and develop some of the approaches that ACTED had initiated in the field in previous years. He has thus contributed to the launch of numerous tools and initiatives that contribute to the definition of an innovative, holistic and inclusive humanitarian and sustainable development agenda: the OXUS microfinance network, the Convergences platform and the Impact Initiatives think tank.
ACTED is an international, independent, private and non-profit non-governmental organisation. It was created in 1993 and implements emergency, rehabilitation and development projects in 40 countries affected by conflicts, disasters or socio-economic crises. As part of its 3Zero strategy - Zero Exclusion, Zero Carbon and Zero Poverty - ACTED goes the last mile and supports 20 million beneficiaries through the implementation of 500 projects per year. With a team of 7,000 national and 400 international employees, Acted makes territories and sustainable development the cornerstones of its action.
