Today, the contexts in which humanitarian interventions unfold are more diverse and complex than ever. Emergencies occur in places already suffering from chronic underdevelopment, each situation calling for specific and adapted responses. Faced with these complexities, humanitarian workers have to display and use a wide variety of skills and competences to cope with situations of armed conflict, epidemics, natural catastrophes and social exclusion.

Training and Research	Geneva:  a centre of humanitarian action	Academic excellence
CERAH offers training programmes and conducts academic research projects of international repute, drawing on Geneva’s network of international institutions and non-governmental organisations. In recognition of the wide skill and knowledge-base that humanitarian professionals require today, CERAH’s courses provide in-depth training on, for example, international humanitarian law, public health or project management for NGOs. Students are introduced to a variety of academic perspectives, including anthropology, economics and political science. CERAH’s interdisciplinary research projects foster critical analysis of the humanitarian sector and humanitarian work, with the aim to improve performance, including necessary reflection on professional practices, the politics of humanitarianism and humanitarian organisations.	Geneva is well known as an international centre for the humanitarian sector. The International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, the International Organisation for Migration and the World Health Organisations have their headquarters in Geneva. The city further hosts key offices of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF, UNDP, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch. Dozens of NGOs maintain offices in Geneva. CERAH and its students benefit from this unique access to the most important actors in the humanitarian field, which combines with the centre’s ties to Geneva's prestigious academic institutions.	Lecturers and researchers from various faculties of the University of Geneva (Medicine, Sciences, Law, Education/Psychology, Social and economic sciences, Arts), from the Graduate Institute (IHEID) and from humanitarian organisations bring their specialist expertise and perspectives to enrich CERAH's multidisciplinary programme.