Over the past decade the roles, responsibilities and visibility of organizations engaged in humanitarian activities have increased exponentially, as have the resources committed to such endeavors. Moreover, the field of humanitarian and disaster management is undergoing a dramatic transformation from traditional approaches focusing on relief/response to a more developmentally sustainable disaster risk reduction framework and an understanding of the importance of leadership across the entire disaster life cycle.

 

With natural and man-made disasters and complex emergencies happening with increased frequency and scope, the ever larger numbers of vulnerable people affected and the need for action across the disaster life cycle, the challenges facing humanitarian agencies and actors and the expectations that increasingly will be placed upon them will be unprecedented.

Realizing this, the goal of the DRLA Academic program is to promote research in the field, stimulate global communication among disaster resilience leaders and to train and nurture current and future leaders in the disaster resilience and humanitarian assistance community.  Specifically, the DRLA Academic Program seeks to generate individuals who do not simply manage disaster response, but rather lead their organizations and agencies into new ways of thinking and new modes of action, resulting in organizations, nations and communities that are better able to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters, thereby increasing the resilience of the affected populations they serve.