The Social Science in Humanitarian Action: A Communication for Development Platform aims to establish networks of social scientists with regional and subject expertise to rapidly provide insight, analysis and advice, tailored to demand and in accessible forms, to better design and implement the social and communication dimensions of emergency responses.
The need to bring in anthropological perspectives to humanitarian crises was highlighted by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. In reference to the most recent set of Ebola cases in the DRC (2018) founder and director of Anthrologica, Juliet Bedford, a partner of the platform explains the ‘Anthropologists can provide intellegence about the context of response for getting things rights. It is important to understand things not just from a clinical perspective, but also from a sociocultural perspective’
Listen to the full interview with the BBC World Service
The Platform is a partnership between UNICEF and Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and support from Anthrologica.
Visit the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform website