Batten School experts are weighing in on the international humanitarian response to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that shook Haiti last weekend. Batten professor Kirsten Gelsdorf, director of Global Humanitarian Policy at UVA, spoke to The Christian Science Monitor about lessons learned by aid workers following Haiti’s 2010 quake. “[W]e learned a lot about community-driven support” and “how the international system can support local efforts instead of the other way around,” said Gelsdorf, who worked in 2010 as the Humanitarian Advisor to President Clinton in his role as the UN Special Envoy for the Haiti Earthquake.
Batten alum Makayla Palazzo (MPP ’18), Gelsdorf’s former graduate teaching assistant, joined “BBC World News” live from Port-au-Prince to discuss the on-the-ground humanitarian response she’s part of as the advocacy and policy manager with Concern Worldwide U.S. “This is a really challenging operational environment for us,” said Palazzo, describing the scenes she’s observed and the local individuals she’s met during visits to the most impacted parts of the country.
Read The Christian Science Monitor article, “After Haiti quake, aid workers make respect a part of relief” and watch Palazzo’s full “BBC World News” interview.
